Page 52 of Bared (Club Sin 2)

“You do give me what I need, sir.” She lowered her arms as if he’d placed weights on them. Tears welled in her eyes. “Please, don’t do this.”

The dungeon had never looked so dark, empty, and cold. Though he noticed that most of the members who had stopped to watch the show had vanished, Kyler, Porter, and Dmitri remained.

His friends looked to him with sympathy, even though Kyler’s eyes were flinty, indicating that Aidan was somehow at fault. All his actions weren’t without thought or purpose to help her. He narrowed his eyes on Kyler, his nostrils flaring.

Cora couldn’t stand his touch.

She had rejected him as her Dom.

What choice did that leave him?

With his body tensing, he turned to Cora. “I’m not going to push this matter. But I do believe it’s best that you scene with the other Club Sin Masters. This”—he pointed between them—“it’s not working anymore, no matter how much I try.”

“No …” Her face became ashen, hands trembled at her sides. “It is working. It’s me …”

He shut his eyes, consumed with the desire to go to her. Those were selfish wants; his need to heal a submissive. This submissive he had weakened, and that made him, as a Dom, a complete failure. “No, Cora, it’s not.”

“Master Aidan …” she whispered with a tearful voice.

“Enough.”

The sharp command had Aidan glancing over his shoulder. Porter had a reddened face and protruding eyes. “I’m ending this. Right now.” Porter glanced to Cora and growled, “Cora, to me now.”

; Cora inhaled sharply, looking from Porter to Aidan.

Aidan’s lips flattened. Her glancing between them told him she didn’t want to make this decision. The Club Sin Masters knew what that meant, and so did Aidan—if she chose Porter, her old Dom, that’s where her trust lay.

At the ongoing struggle in her expression, and the tears in her eyes, the floor dropped from under him. Even if inside Aidan craved to tell Porter to fuck off and to leave his submissive alone, he had to do what was best for Cora. He lowered his voice to indicate the order couldn’t be refused. “Go to him, Cora.”

With a soul ice cold, he turned away from her and approached Dmitri. He heard Cora’s hitch of her breath when he left, and then he heard her gasp, as likely Porter had taken her in his arms. He didn’t want to look.

He couldn’t bear it.

Aidan brushed past Kyler, who said nothing and merely glared. Aidan held his gaze and lifted his chin, not needing Kyler’s shit now. He didn’t need to explain again that he had no idea what had gone wrong between them. For fuck’s sake, he had taken her out to deepen their connection. Instead of trusting him, she now cringed at his touch. He didn’t owe Kyler shit.

When he neared Dmitri, his good friend stood from his chair. His shoulders hunched as he met Aidan halfway. “All right?”

Aidan didn’t acknowledge Dmitri. He couldn’t face him, not now. With heavy steps through the dungeon, passing members and scenes of desire, dominance, and submission, he didn’t want to accept a moment that would forever haunt him.

Most of all, he didn’t want to see that the submissive he had played with for two years was now being comforted in the arms of her former Dom.

Chapter Nineteen

Cora trembled on the couch in a quiet corner of the dungeon, wrapped in two warm, fuzzy blankets, since one hadn’t cut through the ice in her blood. With her head resting on the arm of the sofa, she noticed Master Kyler standing in front of her. His arms were folded and his legs were spread wide, looking in full cop protection mode.

She didn’t doubt a single member would be allowed to get close, and she was grateful. The sensation of Master Aidan’s rope hitting the floor marked the worst moment in her life. She’d never had a Dom turn his back on her. And she couldn’t have anticipated the impact of that sensation on her body. She quaked from the inside out; her arms, her legs, her hands, and even her teeth chattered.

A firm finger tucked under her chin and lifted her attention to Porter’s hard gaze. A look she’d seen many times when they dated. He’d been pushed enough, his commanding look told her.

Nothing could possibly save her now.

Her heart shattered.

Porter loosened the hold on her chin but held her head in place. “All right, Cora, we played this your way.” He lowered his voice, stern and serious. “Now we’re doing this my way.” He stared at her head-on, giving her no space to run and hide. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she whispered.