Page 45 of Point of Contention

She watched me with a mixture of wariness and interest, like she couldn’t tell if she wanted to squash me like a bug… or devour me.

Master Gage slid his hand around my head, his fingers resting on my temple as he leaned closer to me. “You’re not drinking your wine.”

Looking down at the glass, I shrugged. I’d sipped on the same pour of pinot noir for the past hour. Something about Master Gage made me want to keep my wits about me, and drinking to excess, even if it would loosen up my nerves, seemed like a seriously stupid idea.

Why did I agree to come down here with him?

I couldn’t even really recall how it happened, but right at ten o’clock, as I finished closing up the shop upstairs, he’d appeared from behind the hidden door, a boyish smile on his face that was too damn disarming. Even as my mind screamed at me to run, I found myself slipping my hand into his and allowing him to lead me down into the Rabbit Hole, convincing myself that I was just using him as a way back into the club, and wasn’t committing to anything, blah blah fuckingblah.

Truth be told, I’d been angry with Cabot forapprovingof this and wanted to hurt him, while also being too damn hurt—proud?—to make a reasonable decision. A deadly combination, because now I sat beside I scary Dom, too afraid to move or speak.

And I had yet to spot Cabot.

I thought I caught a whiff of him earlier, but when I searched the room for him, I found only unfamiliar faces, and a knot of disappointment twisted in my gut. A million times since, I should have left, but hope kept me firmly in place, my eyes continuing to search for a dark-haired Adonis in low slung jeans and a black leather hood.

Master Gage’s hand tightened on my skull and he turned my head toward him, then pushed it until I dropped my gaze to his lap—

My eyes widened. His pants were unzipped and open. The woman on the other side of him had her long fingers wrapped around his penis, stroking him slowly.

I swallowed hard, and my stomach dropped out. I was horribly out of place here without Cabot.

I didn’t belong.

Trapped.

An intruder.

Master Gage lowered his hand and wrapped it around hers, squeezing and moving her hand faster, then lifted that hand to my chin, pushing my head until I met his gaze. “Time to play.”

My gaze fell to his lap again and I watched her pump her fist up and down his shaft. It was thick and short, like a can of pop.

Looking at it did nothing to my insides. It didn’t turn my blood to molten lava. I tried to imagine touching him the way she was and…

Nothing but a hint of revulsion.

I didn’t feel the pull to him that I wanted to feel. There was none of the instant obsession I’d experienced with Cabot. With Cabot it was almost a desperation. Ineededto behis.

But I’d never felt that way before and expecting to feel it again was almost as ridiculous as agreeing to come here with anyone who wasn’t Cabot Reed.

I shouldn’t be here.

But there was this other part of me, this smaller, quieter part, that didn’t want to leave. She was upset.

Stubborn and stupid.

She was the part of me that had tasted this place and now craved it, and she forced me to remain in this booth. The part of Rylan Blake that thrived in this dark underground club wanted to stick around to find out if anyone else could make her feel the way Master Creed had made her feel.

Stupid, I know.

But it was a demanding part of me, a needy, greedy part. Iwantedthis life, this place. Iwanteda man to know my body better than I did, to infer what I wanted before I could even formulate the request.

Could this guy do that?

Could he read me as Cabot did? Give me what I needed before I even learned how to ask for it?

He slipped his hand up to cup my cheek, then forced my mouth open with his thumb.

And my stomach twisted.