Page 1 of Sunrise (Monarch Club #3)

Knox

I fell in love when I was fifteen. My first kiss, first taste, first touch, sent me down a rabbit hole I’ve never climbed out of.

Addicted from the start, as is my nature, I guess.

But like most addictions, love is fucking tragic.

Take my advice and stick to romance in books.

It might still hurt, but you move on quickly to the next best thing. Love in real life is brutal.

I don’t come to the Monarch Club often because my addiction would eat me alive in a place like this.

The rush, the scents, the sounds, the forbidden…

what a fucking drug. From the texture of the curtains to the water pressure in the shower, to the variety of buzzing toys and intentionally soft lighting in each themed room, this place was built for mind-blowing pleasure.

Ryker nailed it as far as aesthetics, and with Dmitri and Vault running security, there’s no safer place to explore your desires.

I hate it here.

And yet… I can’t stay away on nights like this.

Strolling down the main hall, I head for the security center first. Pushing the door open instead of knocking, I’m smacked by Vault’s signature fragrance when I enter. Blood rushes to my dick when I suck in a lung full of the good stuff. He’s not here and yet he’s everywhere.

Like a fucking ghost.

Servers light up against the wall behind his desk and with the air conditioning on full blast to keep the equipment cool, it’s both frigid and loud.

His trashcan is overflowing with empty energy drink cans and candy wrappers.

All six of his monitors automatically switch feeds every few seconds.

It’s like channel surfing porn, only no video plays long enough to get off to.

I sit in his chair and stifle a groan. Running my fingers over his well-worn keyboard, I stroke the touchpad with my middle finger and mess with the video feed, shuffling from room to room in case I find him in one of them.

Watching Vault fuck is a special brand of torture for me.

And when he’s with Sophie? No words can describe the beautiful agony my heart suffers.

There’s a stack of papers on the right side of the desk, and because I’m a nosy shit, I dig through it for no good reason other than simple curiosity. I always wonder what keeps him busy here. What makes him stay for days on end?

What has captured his attention better than I ever could?

Sadly, these are just membership applications, which means he’s running standard background checks. Woop-dee-doo.

What’s in the drawers? Any guesses?

The larger one is filled with files on blacklisted members. Shocker. The other drawer has candy, hand sanitizer, lube, and tissues, along with a small, gift-wrapped box. The egotistical part of me wonders if the gift is for me. It is, after all, my birthday this weekend.

Aw, he shouldn’t have.

It rattles when I shake it. Sounds like heavy jewelry. I turn it over, inspecting the pristine wrap job, and my heart lurches into my throat when I see Vault’s painstakingly neat block handwriting on the underside.

To My Sunrise

I drop the box back in the drawer and slam it shut.

No way. Nope. Nu uh. Impossible.

I open the drawer again and double check because I must be hallucinating. Maybe all this computer equipment in the room has got my brains cells glitching.

To My Sunrise

He… holy fuck. How long has it been since he called me that?

My hands shake when I scrub my face in a poor attempt to keep my emotions at bay.

Christ, I can’t believe I’m acting like this over a simple box.

It’s like everything I’ve locked up behind the furthest door in my heart kicks and kicks and kicks, just like always, but that name…

in his handwriting… it pops the lock on that iron door.

Don’t do this. Don’t get your hopes up again. You know what happens when you do .

I refuse to let myself fall for it.

The door swings open and I look up, feeling guilty and stupid for getting caught snooping.

Dmitri arches his brow and frowns. “What the fuck are you doing in here?”

I waggle a Twix bar. “Robbing Vault’s candy stash. Want some? ”

“Nah. Come on.” D holds the door for me. “We’re late.”

“What?” I rise so fast out of the chair, it tips over. “I thought it was supposed to start at 8:30.”

“7:30. It’s almost over.”

“Shit.”

Both dressed in all black, we’re twinning, and even our strides match as we make our way to where the Butterfly Ceremony is held. Only tonight, it’s a Shibari Show.

“How’d you know I was in there?” Dumb question considering Dmitri is head of security at the club.

“Saw you go in. You always go to him first, figured you hadn’t realized the time.”

Fair. I’m usually late for everything.

“Sophie told me 8:30,” I say just before we reach the double doors to the big room. “I was trying to be early for once.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Dmitri shrugs. “She’s been a little off lately, anyway. Maybe she got the time confused.”

What the fuck? “Has she had any more trouble at the club?”

“Nothing I didn’t immediately take care of.”

That’s not a good answer.

Sophie’s been a little on edge lately and won’t tell me why.

She’s gotten clingier too. Not that I’m at all complaining about that.

I love being with her. She’s a Domme at the Monarch Club and sometimes I think her subs push her too much and test her boundaries.

I don’t like it. “Anything I can help with?”

“You’re here,” D says like that’s enough. “She likes having us all with her. ”

My muscles relax a fraction. That would be just like our girl.

She’s always dragging Vault, Dmitri, Ryker, and now Tara and Daelyn to my restaurant for dinner when the Monarch closes.

She became part of our family so quickly that I sometimes have to remember she wasn’t always with us.

I feel like I’ve known her my whole life.

And D’s right. She’s always looking for group activities.

Movies, dinners… why not invite us all to watch her get tied up and suspended from a hook in the ceiling too?

Regardless, I come at her request. Whatever it is, whatever she wants, whatever she needs, count me in.

“Damn,” I mutter as we enter the room.

Monarch Club members perch in their seats for the show, and the lights are dim.

It’s a small crowd, but you can tell they’re hungry.

Arousal has a different scent than sex to me.

It’s sweeter. More potent. Ryker says I’m crazy, but he’s just not as sensitive to it as I am.

Bro’s probably nose blind to it at this point.

Sophie stands front and center, wearing a black bra and panty set. Her hair is pulled back tight in a high pony and her red lips match the curtains framing the stage. Very classy. Very va-va-voom.

Very I want to fuck her.

Vault is in his standard black dress pants and black button-down shirt. Guess we’re twinning tonight too.

The slow, deep, throbbing pulse of Two Feet playing over the speakers definitely sets the tone.

Vault pulls out a rope and slowly walks around Sophie, like a wolf with its prey.

By the way she watches him, she’s dying to get eaten.

Wanna know how I know that? Because she looks at me that way too, just before I tongue-fuck her pussy.

I’m a hopeless romantic who’s attracted to brilliance.

Are you shocked that I’m in love with both of these spectacular creatures on stage?

Don’t get too swoony on me though. It’s not like you think.

The first time I saw them together, I wanted to rip them apart.

I don’t like people touching what’s mine.

But I couldn’t move when I saw them put on a show, just like this one, for the first time.

They were so beautiful together. So perfect. Natural.

I should have left it at that. Just me watching from the back of the room, where they didn’t know I existed, should have been enough.

The Monarch welcomes all kinks, including exhibitionism and voyeurism, but I’m not a fan of watching.

No shade to those that are, it’s just that I’m a participator, not a voyeur.

But that night, when they were on stage, giving a little lesson in bondage, I was the biggest goddamn voyeur in the club.

I voyeured hard. Afterwards, I stalked. When the show was done, I slipped out, snuck into Vault’s office, and found them on the surveillance feed.

They went into a private room and… well, let’s just say that memory is still my favorite to use when I jerk off.

And fucking hell, it started a frenzy inside me that’s yet to abate.

When they were finished, I did the best worst thing ever: I waited until Vault left and then snuck into the room and got on my knees and begged Sophie for a turn.

I wanted to be inside her so fucking bad because Vault had just fucked her, and I wanted to be that close to him again.

My confession should have gotten me kicked in the balls, but she agreed to it .

I know, I know. Not my finest moment, but at least I was honest. I never expected that night to turn into another, and another, and another, and another.

We’ve been a thing for over a year now, and she comes to my house in the middle of the night, randomly shows up at my restaurant, and invites me to watch whenever she and Vault are performing together, like tonight.

Sophie sees me, and we understand each other in the worst kind of way.

Thank God she’s in my life or I would have taken a long walk off a short pier by now.

The beat of the music thrums in my bones. They ooze sex off that stage. Before I know what I’m doing, I’ve already crept closer to them, as if pulled by an invisible Shibari rope tied around my chest. It’s hard to breathe. Hard to think. I want nothing more than to be part of what they have.

Because they definitely have something, just like Sophie and I have something.

Vault knows I fuck her. That was part of the deal when she and I started seeing each other. I needed him to know. And even though she and I never have sex in the Monarch, he’s never asked me to stop being with her. And I’ve never asked him to stop either.

Ryker comes to stand beside me, a serene smile stretching across his face. “Enjoying the view?”

My gaze stays locked on the two heartthrobs up on stage. “Always.”

Vault moves with grace. He’s meticulous and patient, which makes him an excellent rigger.

He makes tying knots look like meditation and worship.

He occasionally leans into Sophie, likely checking in with her while he binds her up like a spider does a meal.

After the second song is over, a pulley system is lowered, and a silver hoop gleams in the spotlight.

Vault carefully latches her to it until she’s bent in half, each leg wrapped in rope, but one is stretched out straight, while the other is bent.

Posing, she reaches back with her left hand and touches her foot, bringing her other hand up and pointing at the crowd.

Fucking. Stunning.

The applause shakes me out of my hypnosis, and I realize I’ve somehow crept even closer.

“I need another volunteer,” Vault suddenly announces, his smokey voice booming over the music. Several members raise their hands, and I lean against the wall and cross my arms.

Who will he pick?

“You,” he says in my general direction.

I wait to see who the hell he’s talking to, but no one stands.

“Get the fuck up there,” Ryker growls in my ear. He shoves me forward and I almost trip over myself. What the hell is Ryker on? There’s no way Vault would pick me.

“Knox.” My name on Vault’s lips has my heart thundering. “I need you.”