Page 29 of Crushing Clover

“Randal is off-limits.”

“I don’t even know him. I was being polite.”

“Your version of polite looks a lot like flirting, which is not a great way for you to stay in one piece. Understand me?”

“I would never. He’s Rush’s cousin. That would be weird.”

“Cousins, brothers—none of them will consider you off-limits. Men are pigs.”

“You do realize you’re a man, right? Or is there something you’re not telling me?”

He rolled his eyes. “Some of us have evolved enough so that we don’t think with our dicks 24/7.”

“Yes, I’m intimately familiar with how much self-control you have,” I said, grumpily, “captain.”

His dark eyes went darker.

Uh-oh. Too far.

“Stay,” he snapped.

He left the office without a backward glance.

Why was it so difficult not to bait each other? We always seemed to rub each other the wrong way.

I wished he’d come back and rub me the right way.

He marched back into the office with a handful of something.

“What’s that?”

He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me over to the wall. He tossed a handful of rice on the floor and shoved me down until I was kneeling on it. What the…

It fucking hurt.

“Ow!” When I struggled to get up, he put a hand on my nape, holding me in place.

“Stay there and think about that mouth of yours.” He grabbed the timer off his desk and set it for five minutes. “If you get up or touch that fucking timer, I’ll make it ten minutes.”

What the fuck? Was he really that upset about a bit of teasing?

Or was this about Ran?

I tried to think of anything other than the ache in my knees, but the pain made me clench my jaw. Eventually, sweat broke out along the back of my neck. I didn’t know if he was still in the room, but I had the suspicion he wouldn’t appreciate me peeking over my shoulder to check.

When the alarm rang, he hauled me up roughly by my arm. I was so grateful to be off my knees I didn’t care about the fingertip bruises he was probably leaving.

He turned me toward him. I glanced up into his cold, dark eyes then let my gaze slide to the floor.

“How should this girl speak to me?”

“Respectfully?” I hazarded.

“Respectfully, if you need to speak at all. If we’re in public, you’re forbidden to speak to anyone except us. You seem to keep forgetting that.”

“But not talking to people is weird and suspicious.” Rehashing this argument was getting old.

“You let us worry about that. You can either ignore them or pretend you can’t hear them. Those are the only two options you have, understand?”

“Yes, Saint.”

Still holding my arm, he reached down to brush clinging rice from my knees. “Not fun, is it?”

I shook my head. “No, Saint.”

“That was only five minutes. Next time—if you’re stupid enough to let there be a next time—it’ll be longer.”

“Where did you even get the idea to use that as a punishment? It’s diabolical.”

“It was one of my father’s favorite ways to discipline me as a kid.”

I had the urge to ask how that made him feel about his father, then thought better of it. Saint didn’t give a rat’s ass whether I liked him, so he’d punish me any way he saw fit.

He walked me to the couch and sat down, then pulled me facedown over his lap. As though he did this all the time, he swept up the back of my dress, leaving the skirt fabric draped over my back.

He wasn’t really going to—

The crack of his palm hitting my ass made me gasp. It stung so much I involuntarily kicked my feet in protest.

“If you can’t learn how to speak to me respectfully, you won’t be speaking to anyone else at all. Not even Rush or Lucky.”

The idea of not being permitted to speak at all was terrifying. I couldn’t imagine such a lonely life.

He slapped my ass so many times in a row I was breathless and struggling to blink back tears. My butt felt like it was on fire. For some reason it was worse than the belt—probably because it felt more personal, and less dignified.

Did he really want me to be a quiet little mouse? What kind of man would find that interesting or appealing?

A jerk like Saint, that was who.

Eventually, he stopped, but I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d decided I’d been sufficiently punished, or because he was bored.

He stood me between his knees and brushed down the hem of my dress. I swallowed several times, trying to get the knot in my throat to go away. I hoped he wasn’t expecting me to speak to him because I wasn’t sure I had control of my voice.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

I managed not to sniffle, but my voice still quavered. “I’m sorry for having a smart mouth.”

He stared at me so that I could feel his gaze burning my skin even though I couldn’t bring myself to look at his face.

“Saint,” I added hastily. My words had come out stuttered and jumbled, but at least he seemed satisfied.

“Your face is red,” he said, his voice neutral.

“Yes, Saint.” I knew that without looking in a mirror.

Tears had started trickling down my cheeks, and I was shaking with pent-up emotion.

“Nice. What did I miss?” The voice made both of us jump.

“Jesus, Rush. I didn’t hear you open the door.”

He closed the door behind him, taking a swig from what looked like a bottle of carbonated water. Fancy, considering the guys usually walked in here drinking from plastic deli containers.

“What did she do now?”

“What do you think? It doesn’t matter how often we punish her, she’s mouthy.”

“Can I see?”

Saint pulled me down across his lap again, and I made a sound of protest but didn’t fight him. All the fight had drained out of me. He swept up the back of my skirt and yanked my panties down to my knees. I buried my face in the couch, wishing I could disappear.

“How rude did she get?”

“I have less tolerance for her sass than you do.”

“You’re going to break her if you’re not careful.”

“She needs a firm hand. You’re too permissive.” I could feel the two of them looking at each other.

I wanted Rush to pull me away and save me from the rest of the lecture I was probably in for, but he only got closer.

He traced what felt like a handprint on my backside, and I could feel every part of me laser-focused on his finger, anticipating what he might do.

Did I have hand-shaped welts? He dragged my underwear all the way off.

“What are you doing with those?” Saint asked.

He wadded up the panties, and I knew exactly what he planned to do. So much for Rush being my savior. I tried to clamp my mouth shut but he pried my teeth apart and shoved the underwear into my mouth.

What was it with these guys anyway?

The cotton felt smooth when I was wearing them, but against my tongue it was a different story.

“What are you doing?”

“You can’t keep treating her like this and never show her kindness.”

“Stuffing her panties in her mouth is kindness? You’re getting more twisted as you get older.”

“You’re not wrong, but the gag is a reminder for her to stay quiet. Hang onto her.”

Saint wrapped his arm around my waist, pinning me to his legs. Rush spread my thighs. Was he seriously going to fuck me while I was lying on Saint’s lap? It seemed weird, even for them. He spread my pussy lips apart and murmured in approval.

“Our girl enjoyed being spanked.”

I made a sound of denial. I didn’t enjoy it! If I was wet, it was because I was still dripping from the last time one of them used me.

“Who fucked her last?” Saint asked.

“No idea. I assumed it was you, last night. I heard her bitching about it under her breath this morning.”

“It wasn’t me last night. Lucky?”

“Must be.”

Were they seriously going to hold an inquest while Rush stood there, looking at my pussy while it was threatening to drip?

“She has such a cute little asshole. Every time I see it, I want to sink my cock into it and see how it feels.”

“Tight, I’m guessing.”

They both chuckled, and I shivered as someone brushed a finger over me there.

Rushton got down behind me, and I could feel his breath on my skin. The spanking hadn’t turned me on, but being inspected was definitely doing something for me that I would never admit to anyone, let alone to these two.

He got closer still, and I felt the smooth skin of his shaven face glide along my inner thigh. What was he after? Just looking? I tried not to squirm, but it was hard to hold still.

His tongue swiped at the droplet that had collected at my entrance.

“She tastes so good.” He groaned, and I almost groaned with him. I spread my legs further apart, presenting my pussy to him for more attention, but he gave me another perfunctory lick and pulled away. I whined in disappointment, and they both chuckled.

“Poor little horny pet.”

“Do you think she’s in heat?”

“Maybe.”

“Hmm. We should probably do the math to see when she needs her next shot of birth control.”

A tongue, a cock, or a finger would have been great, but instead something cold and hard pressed against my pussy.

I mewled but didn’t fight them.

I wanted to demand to know what he was doing, but the wad of cloth in my mouth prevented me. I could easily spit it out, but pissing them off seemed like a bad idea. Whatever he was doing didn’t hurt yet, so I only frowned.

He inched the thing into me until it was deep, and the flared base made it difficult to take more. It was weirdly hard and uncomfortable, but I could live with it, if this was doing something for him.

“Why is this so hot?” Rush asked, pulling it out partway, then pushing it back in. “I couldn’t care less about sex toys, but give me a pervertible and I’m a happy man.”

They both laughed and my face went even hotter with humiliation. I was used to being objectified by men, but it never used to be so up close and personal.

Had he worked the neck of his fancy glass bottle into me? That had to be what it was. I grimaced down at the couch, hoping he would get bored of this stupid game soon.

“Such a good girl,” he said soothingly, stroking one of my ass cheeks as though I were a horse he was trying to keep calm. He shifted the bottle out of me slowly then pushed it back in, fucking me with it as I grimaced in distaste.