Home? “Home?” I said out loud.
“Kelsey will bring you a key and an address. I expect you to be there.”
“I have a place—”
“I’ll see you tonight.”
I sat back down. This was going to be harder than I thought. The man was smart. He could read me. How was I going to get information for Connor when I’d just agreed to be Declan’s submissive? I’d read a little about the lifestyle on the plane over. I would be expected to follow all of his rules. Doing so, I would be rewarded.
I’d have to find a way to be a mouse and do more listening than talking.
Kelsey came in. She handed me keys. “He said the apartment is a benefit of the job. Hudson will be in shortly. He also told me to tell you he’d go over the rest later.”
She didn’t have to say what he’d expect. And I didn’t have to ask if she understood. She did. Was she his submissive, too?
Hudson came in and she left. He explained the job and expectations. He was a nervous man, who seemed as frightened as I’d been in the basement.
“What time do you want me here in the morning?” I asked.
“Oh… uh… Did Mr. Royal mention a time?”
My bratty side came out. “Mr. Royal isn’t my supervisor, you are?”
“Uh... yeah. It’s just—”
“Time? Mr. Hudson.”
“Eight-thirty or nine if you like.”
“I’ll be here at eight-thirty.”
I hadn’t haggled on pay. Connor was paying me, too. When I was done, I’d be free of student loans and in a position to be in command of my life.
Declan Royal was a means to an end. This was a game, I told myself, and I’d walk away the winner and enjoy the benefits of his cock along the way. All I had to do was not fall in love with the man.
That would be easier said than done.
TEN
After - Matt
* * *
A year ago, I couldn’t have imagined sitting in a room with the King brothers. Their father had built an empire, and with his failing health, Kalen had come home from Scotland to run the business as his younger brother, Connor, had different interests.
Connor and Kalen didn’t share the same mother. Kalen had been raised in Scotland after his mother left his father. Connor’s mother was his father’s second wife, and she was Irish. However, Connor lacked an accent, as he’d grown up here in the United States.
“I got the name,” Connor announced.
Kalen nor Griffin, Kalen’s best friend and the only other person in the room, didn’t look surprised. It appeared I was the last to know.
“Can I ask how?”
“It’s best you don’t know,” Kalen said, his Scottish brogue as thick as ever.
Kalen and my relationship was shaky as best. My sister’s best friend had been far too innocent when I met her in college for me to corrupt by giving in to her crush on me. Years later, I acted on our mutual attraction. She had been staying at my sister’s and I’d found her in the spare bedroom that I’d claimed as my own. My move was derailed when she’d shared that she’d met someone two days before.
Bailey wasn’t the type of woman to mess around with more than one guy. Unfortunately for me, Kalen played for keeps. But events happened that forced me into a shaky alliance with the man. Especially when my sister fell for his brother.
Connor was deep into the underground, between his sexy club and his pet project. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why my no-nonsense sister had formed a relationship with a man who preferred submissives than partners. But she wore his collar of diamonds around her neck like a trophy. Most didn’t know what it meant, but I did. Still, he and I had become good friends.
I turned to him, ignoring Kalen’s slight. “Should I be worried about the ramification of you getting that name?”
“It’s been handled,” he said.
I trusted him and let it go.
Griffin spoke next. “You have a meeting with David tomorrow, right?”
David Royal had been an unintended victim of circumstance in my undercover role with a kingpin of a cartel that worked out of Chicago. The FBI, whom I worked for, sanctioned my rise to the number two guy in that organization. I’d made a promise to David in order for him to stand down and let a certain situation pay out.
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
I glanced around the room at the Kings. Though Griffin wasn’t a King by birth, he was more or less a brother to Kalen in Scotland where they’d grown up.
Connor steepled his fingers. “A few things have come to my attention and the Royals may not be as squeaky clean as they appear.”
I’d spent enough time with David to form an opinion. “David?”
“David is either very clever or very clueless. The jury is still out on him. But you have to wonder why David would so easily agree to marry a crime boss’ daughter for money. How would the two meet to arrange such a thing?” Connor asked in his usual calm voice that made everything he spoke sound reasonable.