Page 17 of Crushing Clover

Being out with Rushton made me feel like I was cheating on Lucky.

I sat next to him nervously on the ride to the leather shop.

Why he didn’t simply take my measurements for the cuffs and collar, I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t about to complain about seeing more of the city.

It was pretty here, and the sun always seemed to be shining, which was a far cry from the dreary weather we’d been having back home.

Eventually, we pulled into a parking lot. The place advertised a sale on leather jackets and looked normal.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked him uncertainly.

“Yeah. I’ve been here a couple of times.” He helped me down out of his truck.

“Am I allowed to speak in there?”

“As long as you don’t tell people who you are or try to get help, sure. Don’t tell Saint.”

As we went in, the scent of leather hit me, and I inhaled deeply.

“You like that?”

“What’s not to like?”

“Rush, man! Where the fuck have you been?” the man who approached us demanded, smiling broadly. He was middle-age, fit, with dark hair that was greying at the temples.

“Hey, Denny.”

The man turned his gaze to me and his brows rose. “Arabella.” He nodded politely to me.

“This isn’t Arabella, believe it or not. This is my friend, Kate.”

“Oh?” He grimaced. “I’m so sorry, Kate.”

“It’s fine. It happens a lot.”

The man looked appalled.

“Really, it’s all right. I know he didn’t choose me for my sparkling personality.”

Denny barked a laugh, and Rush shook his head with affectionate exasperation.

“What can I help you with today, my friend?” They shook hands which seemed weirdly formal, but men could be weird sometimes.

“I’m looking to buy a new set of leather cuffs for her.”

“Do you want something in stock, or something custom?”

“Something in stock is fine, but she’s got tiny little wrists and ankles.”

Ankles, too?

Denny didn’t blink, but my face must have been a violent shade of purple.

“We moved the kink stuff to the back.”

“You’ve been having trouble?”

“We’ve had a group trying to shut us down lately. Apparently, the stuff we sell is dangerous for the minds of impressionable children.”

“How many impressionable children are wandering into your store?”

The man laughed. “Zero.”

As we neared the back, the leather jackets and motorcycle chaps gave way to kink equipment. I’d never seen any in real life but at least I recognized some of it.

“So, something simple?”

“Yeah. Cuffs with locks, a collar, and maybe a posture collar.”

I wanted to sink into the floor.

“Are you blushing?” Rush asked.

“I’ve never been into a store like this,” I admitted.

Denny clapped him on the shoulder. “Corrupting vanillas isn’t usually your style.”

“You can see why I’d make an exception.”

I could feel him frowning at me. Was I embarrassing him?

Denny chose a selection of cuffs and put them on the counter. They looked similar to the ones Saint had tried using on me, but smaller.

Rush fitted one around my wrist. His touch was impersonal, but I still felt like he was doing something suggestive to me in front of a voyeur.

“Lord, she’s as red as her hair.”

Rush looked up at me and chuckled. “They’re so cute and shy when they’re new.”

“I remember when Trella used to blush for me like that.” He shook his head, grinning. “Now nothing I say or do shocks her.”

Both cuffs fit perfectly, and even though the locks for them were tiny, I could tell there would be no escaping from them unless I got my hands on a hammer.

It was a non-issue though. I couldn’t leave—not unless I really thought staying with them would put my life in danger.

Sure, Saint could be unpredictable and angry, but I still felt safer in the house than I would on the run.

“What do you have for collars?”

Denny whistled. “You have a lot to choose from. I’ve been making them when business is slow, and no one has extra money these days.”

He brought us to a display case that looked like an antique. There was a button on the top that rotated the display like a wide Ferris wheel, so customers could get a good view of the contents.

I stared in consternation at the rotating shelves of collars, not sure how I felt about the idea.

In this situation, Rush putting a collar on me felt like it would be a reminder they literally owned me.

Yes, I had agreed to do this to save Noah, but I was theirs.

I belonged to them—this wasn’t a kink dynamic we’d negotiated.

At first, I could feel Rush trying to draw me into the decision, or at least gauge what I liked best, but he ended up picking something on his own because I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

“I’ll take that one and that one.” The first was a plain black leather color with a little bell. It was cute, if someone was into this kind of thing. The second one was a plain stainless band with a discreet locking mechanism in the back.

“As for posture collars, I only have a few in stock.” Denny put four strange-looking leather contraptions on the counter. “This one is a custom order that didn’t get picked up.”

Why were they so tall? The custom one he was talking about was even taller, and shaped different. Looking at it made me claustrophobic, and I backpedaled until a display brought me up short.

“As usual, your work is impeccable.”

“Thank you.”

“Come here, girl.”

I shook my head.

He snapped his fingers impatiently. “I’m not going to ask twice. Don’t make me punish you right here in the store.”

Oh god. What? Would he really do that?

We had a wordless battle of wills, and within about five seconds, I realized there was no way I’d win. Not only was Rush used to getting his own way, he would never cave in front of an audience—especially not someone cut from the same cloth, whom he seemed to respect.

I lowered my chin and went to him, trying not to look like a recalcitrant child and probably failing spectacularly.

“Good girl.”

Weirdly, the warmth in his voice buzzed through me, like a shot of vodka on an empty stomach.

“I’m going to try this one on you. I can see you don’t like the idea, but it’ll probably keep you out of a world of trouble.

It’ll help you remember to keep your mouth shut when you’re not allowed to speak.

I’m trying it on you, and then I’ll take it off again.

” With one of his fingers, he lifted my chin and gave me a reassuring smile.

“I’m not a monster, but I can get impatient when provoked. ”

He opened the collar and fitted it against my throat. The extra leather on this one covered my mouth and nose.

That couldn’t be right.

“Hold it there for me.”

I did as I was told, and he walked around behind me and started buckling it into place. My breathing kicked up a notch and my heart felt like it was beating out of my ears.

“Breathe slowly for me. You’re starting to panic.”

By the time he finished with what felt like the last buckle, it was a struggle to stop myself from screaming and clawing the thing off. I closed my eyes, and tears squeezed out.

With a lazy gait, he walked around to the front of me and pushed my hair back, inspecting the work and the fit. Casually, he brushed away my tears. The gesture should have been reassuring, but the gleam in his eyes said he was enjoying my fright a bit too much.

“Very pretty. It fits like it was made for you.” He made a low sound of approval.

The shop owner minded his own business, which I appreciated.

The leather wasn’t mashing my face, but it was snug, and its presence over my mouth and nose would make it awkward to speak. I could breathe, though, no matter what my brain was shrieking.

“You did a good job.” He turned me and unbuckled the collar, as he’d promised.

Relief made my knees wobble. When he put the regular leather collar with the bell on me, I was so grateful it wasn’t the posture collar that it felt like a reward.

He fastened it there and brushed his fingers up the back of my neck, making me shiver.

“Stay, kitten.” The whisper in my ear made my brain feel like it was melting. “We’ll take the collar with the bell, and the locking metal one, but we’ll pass on the posture collar for today. It’s beautiful work, but I think it’s too much, too fast for her right now.”

“Can I help you find anything else? Body harness? Nipple clamps? Insertables?”

Insertables?

Oh, Denny, please stop giving him ideas.

“That’s all for today.”

I exhaled in relief.

Denny rang up Rush’s purchases as I stood very still. He’d told me to stay, but how literal had he meant it? Could I move a little? What would happen if I didn’t listen?

I brought my hand up to investigate the collar around my neck. The leather was already warm against my skin. Intimate. The bell on the collar chimed quietly, and I took the metal sphere between my fingers to silence it.

“Nice to meet you, Kate,” Denny called to me.

“Nice to meet you, too.”

Rush snapped his fingers as he walked past me, as if he were summoning a dog. I followed, even though I was tempted to be a bad dog and bite him instead.

When we reached the truck, he opened my door and lifted me up onto the seat. He buckled my seatbelt, as though I were incompetent, then put the hand-stamped boutique shopping bag on my lap.

He got in and brushed a kiss along my cheek.

“You look very pretty in that collar.”

“Thank you.” It was probably best to be polite, even though I didn’t like wearing it.

He gave me the kind of self-satisfied smile a Viking might give a monastery he’d set on fire. When he reached for me, I made myself sit still. He flicked my collar’s little bell, and the sound it made was clear and sweet.

What would the bell sound like if he was fucking me hard?

My pussy twitched, and I blinked at him, feeling strange.

His gaze turned into a smolder that made the cab of the truck overly warm.

“Nice.”

Umm…what was nice?

Too chicken to ask, I turned my gaze out the windshield and watched the scenery as he pulled into traffic.