I feel the sweat drenching my entire body. Pulling off my shirt, I wipe my soaked face and grab a bottle of water. I need a fucking shower and sleep.
We're currently at Jacks', sitting around his kitchen table. The cause of the heat aside from it being summer is because Jacks' AC is broken, and he's currently waiting on the repair company to arrive.
"So, it's settled then?" I ask making sure I look at every one. Cole, Jacks, and DJ all stare back at me. It's been close to 12 hours since the nightmare went down in the cave between me and Josh.
Once Cole and the guys found me and Ray in the cave, Cole discovered something about Josh that called for three sweaty guys to be sat around the table. He didn't say a word, except he wanted Jacks to drop the girls off, and for him to come right back.
The moment they left, Cole pulled me to the side, after telling DJ to run back to his four-wheeler to get the cellphone he had forgotten. I was confused but I figured it out pretty fucking quickly.
12 hours earlier—
"Damien, I need you to tell me exactly what happened?" Cole asked
I sigh, annoyed at being asked again what had happened. "I went looking for Ray as I offered. A little while had passed and I still hadn't found them. There was only one last place I could tell that they could have possibly been, so I walk up towards the entrance here," I take my hand and gesture towards the cave entrance beside me, "and heard them talking. I listened and he wanted to kiss her and she said no, she didn't feel that way towards him. I heard him say something about if he fucked her she might change her mind or something like that. Right after, I hear her scream. I immediately charged in and saw Josh holding her as she was struggling to push him off of her." I look at him, shrugging my shoulders. Not understanding what else he wants me to say.
I wouldn't think twice about doing it again if he did that to Kaye either. Hell, any girl. No means fucking no.
"And..." he motioned for me to finish. I huff, fucking hell, I've already told him this shit. Is he a cop? Does he think my fucking story is going to change? When the bastard wakes, he can tell him the same fucking thing.
" I don't know honestly. I guess I saw red and I snapped. I can't stand fuckers like him who try to make girls do things they don't want to do. I know I kept hearing her tell him no and kept seeing her struggling to push him off of her repeatedly in my head. I mean what would have happened if I hadn't come in when I had? How far would he have pushed her? And then when Ray pulled me back, I calmed down and finally seen what happened. I don't apologize for hurting him. When I looked back down at him, he was laying on the ground bleeding and unconscious." I don't deviate my eyes from him, as he paced back and forth. I hear him cursing under his breath. "I'm not fucking sorry bro. So, I'm not sure what you're looking for or what you're trying to get at." I sneer at him.
I continue to watch him pace back and forth still cursing under his breath. "Cole what the fuck is wrong with you? If you are worried about the fucker pressing charges, don't worry ok. I got money saved, I'm sure I can pay him off." I lie, I'm just trying to calm him. I'd never pay him "hush" money to keep anyone quiet. I'm pretty sure my fists against his face are all he needs to remind him to keep his mouth shut, or I'll have it wired shut.
He stops and laughs bitterly. "Oh, don't worry. He won't need to be paid off Damien." He states as he leans against the cave wall letting his head fall against it.
"What are you talking about Cole?" I asked confused. Cole's behavior had been way too odd since the girls had left. But I assumed it was because his sister and Kaye had seen the mess I made of his face.
"He's dead Damien." Cole sighed, as he closed his eyes. I quickly whip my head over to Josh's body and notice his body wasn't moving...AT ALL. I quickly pull myself off the wall and hit my knees as I stumbled to get to his body to confirm Cole wasn't mistaken. I kneeled beside his body and placed a finger on his neck and tried to feel for a pulse.
"Fuck —fuck!" I began to chant when I came up empty. Reaching to check for a pulse on his wrist, I dropped his hand quickly, once I felt the cold and stiffness.
He's dead. Well, fucking hell.
"I need you to answer one question, Damien. Just one." Cole says as he lets his body slide to the ground. He takes his hand, and moves his hair out of his face, and takes a long deep breath.
"Why did you snap? Hm? I'm not mad that you helped Ray, I just need you to answer me honestly. Why?"
Is he serious?
"Because he was trying to force Ray to do something she didn't want to fucking do. You know damn well he could have gone a lot further if I hadn't shown up when I did. Why else do you fucking think!?" I raise my voice.
His eyes lock with mine as he stares at me. "Damien, I know." He says, never looking away. Does he know? Knows what exactly? The fuck does he fucking mean he "knows"?
"I know about the club and Ray, Damien. Zane called, he wanted to make sure I was cool with it, just out of respect." His jaw twitches, as he continues to glare at me. "I also told him to not let you know that I knew." Shit—What the...Is he fucking crazy or something?
"I'm not understanding any of this bullshit Cole. Stop fucking speaking fucking vaguely and spit the shit out!" I Growled, pushing off the ground.
I hear DJ walking up to the entrance and Cole quickly says, "After this, when it's only you and me, I'll explain. I just hope this is all going to be worth the risk." He mumbled the last part, just as DJ walks into the cave.
"I couldn't find it. Maybe you dropped it out by the bonfire or something?" DJ informed. He looks back at me and cleared his throat. "I'm glad someone was here to stop him from doing something far worse."
How the hell did we go from wanting to fuck the same girl, fighting over her, and now to a mutual understanding...over the same girl? I think it's a full moon out or something. Everyone's acting nuts!!
"Josh is dead," I state, keeping my eyes on his. I'll know his true character when what I just told him completely sinks in. Telling him out-right will either give him the ammunition he needs to turn me in, have Ray all to himself or I'll see the guy Cole talked about during the year up at college.
He looks between Cole and me. He then slowly runs his hand through his hair, letting his gaze rest on Josh's stiff body. "Fuck." He said, raising both eyebrows.
He looks back to Cole and then me. "So, what's the plan?" He asked us. Ok, maybe DJ isn't as much of a fuck head as I've assumed.
I need to inform Cole of who I am. But no matter how long Cole's known these guys, I can't let them know. It's too risky. It's risky enough that I'm going to have to let Cole know. Telling him like this isn't how I wanted this to go down. I was hoping I could leave my past in the past, never have to tell a soul about who I truly am.
"Look, Jacks will be back any minute, and he's been bitching most of the night about having to sit at the house all day waiting for his AC repair guy to fix it. I say we load the body in the back of your car Cole, and we sit with Jacks and strategize." I suggest.
This would have never been an issue if I was back in New Orleans. This isn't my first time taking someone's last breath. I'm not bragging by any means, but I was relentlessly trained since my thirteenth birthday to become the guy I am now. If I had been home when I killed this guy, I'd know exactly where to toss his body.
I know I must sound cold and heartless and I don't deny that assessment, I am cold and heartless. Family is all that matters in our world. Except my father doesn't care about anyone but his drug habits, diseased whores, and running our family name and businesses into the ground.
That's why I keep telling females who from time to time want more with me when the contracts are up, that I'm not good. I was only made and molded for one reason and one reason alone. Even though I refuse to let my father turn me into exactly what he became, I won't bring a woman close to me and risk being anything like him. Keeping them from a world that women today, couldn't handle anyway.
I've seen them all. Materialistic, untrustworthy, and jealous creatures. That's what makes up the women I've come to know. I'm 23 years old, the prime age to start thinking about being in a committed relationship, running what I was trained to run, and flourish. Making the Heart name the most respected and feared name to everyone, I attended college for the second year and trying to bury the knowledge of who I truly am all because of Caine Heart.
8:00pm—
I flop hard, as I fall on my bed. I don't even turn the lights on, or strip out of my filthy clothes. I made DJ and Jacks hand their clothes over before heading home. I'll head to the cave in a few hours and make sure to clean up the evidence left in the cave.
I groan loudly as I hear my phone ringing. I pull it out of my pants pocket and answer not even caring who's called.
"Damien! Hey buddy how's my favorite dom?" I rolled my eyes, as I hear Zane's voice on the other end.
"What is it, Zane? I thought you were cool with me taking the night off?" I grumble. I'm sure he's probably busy, and instead of his ass sucking it up and helping, he called me.
"I am, it's all good. I just thought you might know where Cole is?" He asked. "Coles off tonight. You know damn well that's one thing Cole won't do. He won't come in on his days off." I laugh.
"I know. I need to make sure he's cool about something, again. I've been calling him all day and I need to know, like now." Zane tells me.
"When did you ever worry about someone's opinion, especially, Cole?" I grumble. "Why do you need Cole's opinion for, Ice shapes? He's just 'The Bar.'" I snort.
"Haha. Mr. funny man. Look, do you know where he is?" He asked me, his voice letting me know he's annoyed with me. Damn it all to hell, can I please just get one hour of sleep??
I pull myself up and sluggishly make my way to Cole's door. I knock and hear him say to come in. He's just taking a seat on his bed, a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Hey, Zane has been calling you all day. Something about how he needs to check if you're cool with something again, I don't know. If you could, pick up the phone so he will let me get a moment's peace."
Before I turned around, I stopped as I saw Kaye's face turn a sickly white color. She sits up and looks at me and then back to Cole.
"Cole? What does Zane need to know?" She asked. What the hell is wrong with her? Is she sick? Is she pregnant?!? Holy shi—
"Kaye, you want to tell me why your face is so pale? I'll tell you what babe," I see his lip pull up slightly, "I'll tell you if you honestly tell me why all of a sudden your face has gone pale?" Cole begins to laugh, causing Kaye's face to find the color, a nice shade of pink.
"What the hell are you both going on about?" I asked, amused at Cole giving Kaye a hard time. I'd never say this aloud, but they're cute.
Cole laughs as he looks back at me. "If Kaye would come out with the truth, it will be me who would be laughing at your ass." He began to laugh even harder as we both watch Kaye flip us both off.
"Cole, this needs to be discussed without an audience. She wouldn't want to have everyone knowing. So, I will discuss this when we're alone." She tries to decode her words, her eyes flicker to me, and then back to Cole.
"Kaye, I know you love her, and you feel it would be betraying her if anyone found out. I love you so much for how good you are to her, but I'm not an idiot babe. I know more than you think. So, I'll let this one time slide but, no more lies Kaye."
"Damien, remember when I told you I would make time and privacy to explain more?" He asked. My mind trying to remember the vague shit he was talking about but it wasn't making any sense.
"Over the past year at college, we both got close. I mean you're an asshole and you have some shit you need to fix. I know how you are with females, and I know you don't do more than contracts. I will be fucking honest, before I came home for the summer, I was worried you were going to go after her and not give a fuck. I don't want my sister hurt and I know if you treat her like the subs back on campus, you will." He places his arms behind his head as his body lays against the headboard.
"When I got home, I saw all of you fuckers secretly drooling over her. I was pissed and close to just shipping her ass to Georgia to live with our grandma. That's when Kaye had a good long talk with me." He smiled as he grabs her hand, leaving soft kisses on top of her hand. "When I say long talk, I mean she threatened to slit my throat in my sleep." He chuckles as she laughed with him.
"She convinced me, slowly, that Ray will be turning 19 soon, like not even a month away. If I wanted to be involved in her life, I needed to back off and allow her to make her own choices and decisions. So, I slowly loosened the leash if you want a visual. But the moment I honestly feared for my sister was the morning I was called by Zane letting me know my sister was at the club, out of respect for me since I'm her older brother. I asked what he was going to do, who he was going to use, and he started naming some of the guys off. I couldn't stomach it. I don't trust any of them. I hate that I trust you to not take advantage and stop if she felt uncomfortable, but I can't trust you not to break her heart."
Damn..."I get it, Cole, honestly. I have something to tell you. This will need to be just you and I'm sorry Kaye, I don't want him telling a soul and that includes you too." She pouts and I laugh.
"I'm sure after I tell you, you'll understand why I've stayed clear of relationships. But I won't lie to you anymore. I can honestly tell you this, your sister has fucked me in the head so bad, that she has me contemplating, I don't know what's happening to me, but I'd like to just hang out with her, no contract or labels. Just enjoy and let it happen if it's truly going to."
Cole's eyes grow wide and I roll my eyes. "Now, I'll leave you guys alone. I need a shower and sleep."
"Wait!" Cole says laughing. "I'm not done." I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest. "Is that truly how you feel, no contracts or labels? Does that mean you can mess with other girls and she can do the same?" He asked me while smirking.
Normally I wouldn't give two shits. I've always had contracts in place if I intended to fuck her more than once. Our contract was only signed by me if she agreed that she was only to submit sexually to me unless I made other arrangements and introduce other "playmates" for agreed-upon "playtimes" if the submissive was comfortable with having anyone else touching her other than me.
I'm not ok with Ray being sexual with someone unless I've made that decision and approved of the "playmate" I would trust to "play" So when I finally talk with Ray, I'll let her know if she's willing to explore our situation. Of course, she will have to submit, but I won't make her do the contract and I won't place a time limit on whatever this is.
"Of course, I'm not ok with that. Contract or not, I'm a dominant Cole. I'm not comfortable talking about this with you" I laugh.
"That's fine with me bro. I'd rather not either. But I ask because Zane wants to make sure it's ok again since Ray is playing the field down at Platinum Pleasures tonight. From what the voicemail said," he looks at his phone, then back at me with an evil smile, "In about thirty minutes she will be enjoying the "All Tied Up" package and Master Justin will be in charge of performing it."
Is she seriously trying to have me kill every fucking guy? Well, I know one thing. This shit is stopping tonight. I'm going to get my submission and she will submit. Sleep will have to wait. Ray is a lot feistier than I assumed.
"Here kitty kitty." Master Damien is cumming for you baby girl.