But when I stood between them, things felt more stable, like I was fixing something broken. It might be all in my head, but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something there beneath the games and bullshit and plotting. Or there could be if we gave it a chance. Maybe. I don’t have answers now, and I likely won’t anytime soon, not with Meg and Hades’s respective walls built sky-high. Tormenting myself by playing what-if is a recipe for disaster.
To distract myself, I open the laptop and turn it on. Tonight will be another gauntlet to run, and knowledge is the only weapon available to me currently. It won’t pave the way for me to have the upper hand—I’m not delusional—but it might mean I don’t drown quite as quickly when faced with something outside my realm of experience.
The desktop is clear except for a line of six folders. I click through the first and find five more folders labeled Gaeton, Malone, Hook, Beast, the Man in Black. I blink. These must be pseudonyms. I click into the first one and find a list of Gaeton’s alliances and enemies—he answers to the Man in Black and has a note that he and Beast can’t be left alone together in the club without concern for damages to the property. There’s also a brief history and a list of kinks and favorite submissives. I click through more files, finding similar information compiled in each. Some of them are significantly longer than others, but it’s a lot of information to process.
I sit back. No wonder Hades is so formidable. He knows the secrets of all the major players in this city. Knowledge worth killing over and they had passed it along willingly because he’s allowing them to play out their deepest fantasies within these walls. It’s brilliant.
I manage a nap and wake up with plenty of time to shower again and grab something out of my closet for my shift tonight. All the work clothing is in line with the shorts from last night—light on fabric and tight enough to leave nothing to the imagination. I decide on a pair of black shorts that shine like leather but are made of some kind of stretchy fabric. There are little rhinestones in a row down each side and they wink every time I move.
It feels strange to walk mostly naked to the elevator and take it up to the club floor, but I suppose I’ll get used to it given enough time. I walk into the employee back room and the first person I see is Aurora. She’s wearing white again, an elaborate lingerie set that looks like something a bride would wear on her wedding night. She grins when she sees me. “Hey, Hercules.”
“Hey.”
“Since Tink isn’t here tonight, you’re with me for the first part of your shift. Then Meg will take over like last night.”
My stomach clenches at the thought of seeing her again after how things fell out earlier. I have an apology to give, and I’m not even sure how to make it right. I thought I was starting to understand the rules, but with Meg the edges blur. This morning, I didn’t want to stop until I had her bent over the desk and my cock sheathed to the hilt. I wanted to fuck her until she came, until we were so lost in each other that nothing else mattered. But it’s not just us engaged in this dance, and it doesn’t feel like something as simple as breaking the rules to go against Hades’s command.
I don’t know. I just don’t know.
“Hercules?” Aurora takes a step closer. She’s tiny in a way that makes me feel like one wrong move would break her. The look on her face is anything but meek, though. She frowns up at me. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t understand this.” I have to swallow the words before I blurt out everything. What’s going on between Hades and Meg and me is our business, but it feels like they’re playing on a different game board than I am. Like they’re playing an entirely different fucking game. I would ask Tink if she were here, but she’s not. I scrub my hands over my face. “We’re submissives, right?”
“Yes.”
“So a Dom gives you an order.”
Aurora holds up a finger. “A couple caveats before you keep going. We don’t answer to all Doms. We answer to ours and the ones we’re in a scene with. That’s it. It’s not a blanket rule.”
Am I Hades’s? It sure as fuck feels like it. But it feels like I’m Meg’s too, and that’s where things get confusing. “Okay. So your Dom gives you an order. Is breaking it really so bad?”
“Every relationship is different. Some subs—like Tink—are brats. They get off on pushing against the boundaries and breaking the rules and mouthing off. The Doms they partner with usually also get off on that sort of thing. That’s not how I operate. It makes me uncomfortable to act out like that.” She shrugs. “Your mileage may vary.”