Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

DOMHNALL

Last night was… unacceptable. I was supposed to be training her. Not— Not… whatever that turned into.

I have to stay in fucking control.

But after we’d gone so far, I knew I couldn’t just leave her. I’ve had plenty of training in being a proper dominant, even if I’ve thrown out all the rest of the rules with Mads. But some things like aftercare were so drilled into me since day one I stepped through the door at Carnal, I couldn’t just leave her there so obviously in shock after our scene last night.

Plus, I’d finally gotten something real out of her. I’ve seen plenty of women fake orgasms around the club, and try to with me, back in the early days .

But a good dom learns to pay attention to each hitch of breath. Every contracting muscle and flutter of a sub’s eyelashes. You learn to watch for the grimace of pain and the twitch of pleasure, and the fascinating contortions a body twists itself into when the two intermingle.

Madison might lie to me, but her body tells me the truth. Her desire was genuine.

It gives me power over her.

Or am I just telling myself that so I can get my mouth on her cunt again as soon as possible?

I drag my hands through my hair and then look at Mads on the screen, sleeping curled up in bed like a kitten. My cock pulses rock hard in my pants. I should’ve known I couldn’t be as cold and calculating as I need to be when it comes to her.

In the back of my head, there was always a twisted root growing inside me that planned what I’d do to either one of them if I ever got ahold of them. I even had a special collar made for her a long time ago, dreaming of just this day, in case I ever got to put my hands around her lovely little throat. I’m doing nothing more than exacting vengeance for the wrongs done to me. She deserves this.

But last night… Fuck. I slam my laptop screen shut. That wasn’t vengeance. That was…

That was my seventeen-year-old self getting what he’d always dreamed of from the girl he’d been obsessed with from the day he noticed her watching him in that Dublin internet cafe. When she finally sidled over to me, I’d been so gobsmacked, I could barely get a word out. But she looked over my shoulder at my code and started up a conversation so easily that eventually I even managed to get out a syllable or two.

She laughed and coyly rolled her hair around a finger like she was the one who was nervous. An act. All an act.

So what if the act’s gotten more sophisticated? She’s still the same old Mads. I won’t be anyone’s toy ever again.

Certainly not today.

Today I’ll be the cold and calculating bastard I’ve been ever since I stepped off the airplane in this new country, hand fisted around my little sister’s wrist so I wouldn’t lose her in the crowds. I was determined to make a better life for us. And just as determined not to be duped again by a pretty face or by anyone else thinking to take my power from me.

A promise I’ve kept to myself.

It’s sure as hell not changing now.

I stomp towards the kitchen and prepare the best breakfast I know how to make, then put a cloche over top the plate to keep it warm. When I get to the elevator, I close my eyes, take a long breath in, and breathe an even longer one out. Several times. When I open my eyes again, I am cool, calm and collected. I push the down button.

No one masters me but myself.

I step in and ride the elevator down. When it pings and opens, my back is ramrod straight. I’m galled to realize that in spite of my breathing, in spite of my determination, I’m still fucking nervous to see her .

Jaysus Christ, is this what the morning after feels like for regular people? I never bothered with it before. I play at the club and leave it there. Like sane people do. My life is tidy with none of the unholy mess of a relationship. Though god knows, this is no relationship.

As the doors roll open, I look around for Madison.

She’s certainly not in position like I explained to her she ought to be at the sound of the elevator bells last night.

Annoyed, I step down the hall, and yup, there she is still curled up in bed. I clear my throat, and I swear, before she realizes what she’s doing, the small curve of a little smile lights her face as she looks between me and the plate in my hand.

“You brought me breakfast?” she asks with a hope that borders on affection.

“No,” I say sharply, then am annoyed at myself for being affected by her nearness all over again. “I mean yes. But it’s hardly for breakfast’s sake. It’s for your training. You’ve ought to have been awake and waiting for Sir. At the ping of the elevator door, you are meant to be waiting, in position.”

She sits up, hugging the covers to her. Still in the slinky nightie from the first night, she looks adorably rumpled, and sexy as fuck.

“But there’s no alarm clock. And I never know when you’re coming, anyway.”

I stop myself from rolling my eyes at the very last moment. She should not be able to see that she affects me at all. “Yes. You’re meant to be prepared at all times. Tomorrow, I expect you in position when I arrive.”

“That’s stupid. Just give me a schedule or something. Then I’ll know. And an alarm clock.”

Finally I can’t keep back my exasperated breath. “That’s not how this works. Now do you want your hot breakfast, or should I keep standing here while it gets cold?”

“No, don’t, it smells so good!”

I finally approach the bed and, with a small flourish, pull off the cloche revealing the perfectly cooked vegetable omelet and crisped-but-not-too-crisped bacon. American bacon is a fecking tragedy compared to the Irish kind. But I’ve come to live with it, especially when it’s cooked right.

Madison’s eyes light up and she immediately reaches out for a piece of bacon. I yank the plate back before she can touch it.

“This is a training session.” I reinstate the chill in my voice. “You eat only what I feed you.

She looks at me like she might strangle me. I smile coldly. “You know I’m happy to walk back upstairs. There’s always the feeder.”

Her mouth drops open, eyes narrowing in fury.

But I don’t stop there. “And failure to take your training would also mean a punishment.” I tilt my head at her. “Or perhaps you enjoyed last night so much you want to be punished again ?

“You’re a fucking rat bastard son of a brothel whore, Donny Callaghan.”

She pulls back and lifts a hand to cover her lips in surprise right after she says it, looking down at the mattress, then back up at me, eyes wide.

“Oh Mads, there’s no reason to bring my mother into this. I told you about her whoring in confidence.”

Outside I keep the same demeanor, but inside, I feel a tense excitement. Donny . She was the only person to ever call me Donny . She’s slipping. And I’m hard with the thrill of getting past another layer of her bullshit.

“What?” she asks, still seeming confused and off-kilter. Just how I like her. “I didn’t?—”

I start to laugh.

Rage comes back into her eyes like a storm, and she swings her arm wildly like she’s trying to smack me. With the arm not holding her plate, I easily catch her wrist.

“Ah ah ah, there’s no violence allowed in the dungeon,” I say, tugging her in close to my chest. “Don’t make me cuff your wrists again. You know I’ll do it, and I’ll like it.”

She screams in fury and yanks back from me. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you even have any feelings?”

“All I’m asking is for you to eat your breakfast while it’s still hot.” I hold out a long piece of bacon for her. She doesn’t need to know all the ways she affects me. Feelings are inconvenient, and I’ve refused to have them for a good long while. I won’t be starting again now .

“You’re only fighting with yourself, Mads. Not me.”

She glares at me. “I’d rather go hungry.”

“You’ll take punishment instead of breakfast? You really are a randy lass, aren’t you?”

I start to set the breakfast plate down and she lunges forward to take a bite out of the end of the bacon I’m holding out to her.

“You’re sadistic,” she says, chewing and glaring at me.

I smile in the face of her scowl. Then add, “Takes one to know one, love.”

She turns away as she chews.

“Another bite,” I say once I know she’s done. I see the fight in her, and because I’m exactly the sadistic fuck she says I am, it makes me hard.

But she turns back, only for her eyes to widen when this time she sees I’m holding out a bit of omelet on my fingers for her to literally eat out of my hand.

Glaring hatred beams from her eyes up at me the whole time, she bites it, her lips grazing my fingertips. “I won’t mind if you suck the butter from my fingertips,” I say, adding insult to injury.

“I’d sooner bite your fingers off,” she says as she chews.

“It’s unladylike to talk with your mouth full.”

“You’re a cunt.”

“Touche. I forgot the stunning repartee of who I’m dealing with. You always had a mouth like a garbage disposal. Another bite, m’dear? ”

“Eat a dick.”

I grin and hold out another morsel of omelet on my fingers. When she leans forwards and lowers her mouth on my hands, her teeth bite down. Not hard enough to do any real damage, but just enough to nip before her tongue pulls the omelet off them and back into her mouth.

“Oh, so it’s to be foreplay for us?”

“Just a warning,” she snaps. “I’m happy to bite harder next time.”

“Don’t tempt a sadist, lass,” I growl, brawl deep and low, “Often we’ve got a more’n a wee bit o’ masochism in us too. If ya manage to draw blood, I just might drench me drawers. You’ve got ‘em tight already.”

Her eyes drop to my pants. And quickly back up to my face, her cheeks coloring. I wasn’t lying. Every time I’m down here bickering with her, I go hard as a damn goalpost.

I had to take myself in hand once I got upstairs last night, and it wasn’t the first time since she’s been here.

“Bacon?” I decide to give both of us a moment’s reprieve.

Her eyes just watch me as I pick up another long piece and hold it out to her. She bites at it greedily. Always so greedy, my Madison.

My cock pulses for want of her.

Fuck. It’s times like this I have to remind myself why we’re both here. Because for fuck’s sake that’s right, she’s greedy. She’s so fucking greedy that after she and her abusive fuck of a father had sucked me dry, they skipped town with all the money I’d stolen for them.

It was a clever grift, finding a mark like me who was young with just enough skills to be able to get on the dark web but not much else. They taught me the rest, then were gone by the time the final transfer was made. The side hustle for Madison’s dad was the stalking and conquering. Once he’d done that, he wanted fresh quarry. A new town. More money. New young ass.

They were both insatiable beasts.

And Mads, what did she want? Was it all about the money for her? Or had it been about the hunt, too?

When she next comes near, I shove the eggs in her mouth before she can get close enough to my fingers to bite them. She looks surprised but turns around to chew just the same.

Did she get a thrill out of boys always falling all over themselves for her? Did she like playing honey trap for her father? She was two years older than me and a helluva lot wiser. How they must have laughed to themselves when she told him I asked her to run away with me.

“Eat the rest yourself.” I toss the plate to the floor. It lands intact on the carpeted ground, but a couple slices of bacon are upended. Better than she deserves.

“Wait,” she says, half standing up. “We haven’t even gotten to talk.”

“I’ll be back later to continue your training,” I snap coldly, furious that she’s still talking back to me. She’s nowhere near being broken, and that’s all on me. I’ve been too soft. “I want you in position when I return. If you aren’t, there’ll be punishment, and it won’t be half so pleasant as last time. There’s only four days before I’m to present you at the club as my sub and I will not be embarrassed in front of my peers.”

More than that, I will not lose her. When I take her to the club on Saturday, she needs to have given in to my control so deeply that by the end of the night, there’s no other thought in her head except pleasing me and climbing back into my car.

I fucking refuse to lose Madison Harper a second time. Nothing in this world or any other will stop me.

Not Quinnlynn.

Not even my sister. I protected her from everything when she was young, but she’s a grown woman now. A slightly fucked up grown woman, sure. But I’ve protected her as much as I can for as long as I can. It’s time I take the reward for all the suffering I endured. I don’t fucking care if I lose whatever might be left of my soul in the process.

I march out of the room towards the elevator.

Enough fucking around.

We’ve got work to do.