Page 44 of Sunrise (Monarch Club #3)

Knox

“Don’t go!” I yell, heading right for Vault and Sophie.

“Please don’t fucking go up to the Butterfly suite.

” My heart’s racing, and I’m sweaty and shaky.

The whole day I over-thought this night and what I want and how to tell them and then I chickened out twice because I’m scared of making demands and fucking up what we have.

I can’t think straight. I burned most of my dishes tonight and had to walk away, leaving Tristan to pick up my slack.

It’s been Hell. I’m in absolute fucking Hell. “I don’t want to share you.”

Vault stares at me like I’m speaking in tongues.

Sophie looks just as confused.

Everyone else in the room moves around, heading out because the ceremony is over. The auction is done. Someone is a Butterfly. They’ll want what’s mine.

“Come with us,” Vault says, grabbing my arm and tugging me out the back door.

Dmitri said that not everything is my fault. Not everything is about me. Well, I’m making this about me. I deserve to be selfish. I’ve gone a lifetime of never being good enough but, goddamnit, yes, the fuck I am. I’m always thinking about everyone else and it’s time I think of me.

Vault pulls me into his office, and Sophie shuts the door.

Oh god. I’m in so much trouble. My chest is going to burst. “Alex…”

He smashes his mouth to mine, sending my last functioning brain cell into another dimension. His grip is so tight on me, it’s bruising.

I love it.

Opening up for him, I return the kiss with gusto. We’re tangled together, and I rip at his suit jacket. I want it off. I want everything fucking off. Now .

Vault pulls back, panting. “Wait.”

“No more waiting.” I yank on his shirt, popping every single button. “I’ve waited long enough. Give me this one thing before you go back out there to the Butterfly.”

He closes his hands over mine and lifts my hands off his shirt. “Knox. Listen to me. Slow down.”

I only obey because I don’t want to make this worse. Can’t he hear my soul screaming?

“We’re not going back out there for the Butterfly,” he says calmly.

Sophie comes into view, flushed and wild-eyed.

Staring back and forth between them, I’m scared to ask for a repeat.

I hate that I’m so fucking insecure. I hate that I’m this terrified of losing them.

I never knew I could be so possessive. I’m a great sharer.

I share stuff all the time. Everything I have I share. My food, my time, my house, my love…

“I can’t share you. I’m so sorry. I… fuck .

” Needing air, I slip out from under Vault’s glare and walk around to the other side of his office.

The whir of machines and AC blasting doesn’t touch the volume of all the noise in my head.

“I tried to let it go. I thought I’d be alright with it. But I’m not. This is my hard line.”

I’m going to lose them over this.

Sophie won’t stay. She needs this place, and her position here. It’s part of who she is. And if she goes… I’ll eventually lose Alex too. She’s the link that ties us. She’s the missing piece to our very jagged love. The heart that keeps us alive.

“It’s okay,” she says quietly.

“No, it’s not. I have no right to—”

“Knox, you have every right to voice your feelings and desires.”

Just as she has every right to deny them. “I know you need this place, Soph.”

Her cheeks pale. She doesn’t argue because I’m fucking right.

“The thought of someone else having you, tasting you, pleasuring you… makes me want to burn the entire club to the goddamn ground.”

Vault hasn’t moved an inch. I’m not sure he’s even blinked. I feel his stare on me like laser beams, but I’m not looking at him yet. Once I do, it’s over.

“I can’t give up this lifestyle,” she says carefully.

My legs turn to rubber.

“But I can’t give you up either.” Sophie approaches slowly, like I might bite her. “Can we come to a compromise?”

My initial reaction is to say no. Good thing I’m so fucking terrified, I can’t speak for a solid ten seconds. “What kind of compromise?”

She looks over at Vault. “It’s something I wanted to discuss with both of you.”

Great. I can’t even begin to imagine what she has in mind. All I know is, I’m desperate enough to agree to it without even hearing what it is if it means I get to keep them both. And I can’t be like that anymore.

“Last night...” She clasps her hands. “I was able to work the club as a Domme without working the bodies.”

I don’t have the mental capacity to understand what she means. “Explain.”

“I was able to encourage, indulge, and uplift our members without touching any of them.” She tips her head to Vault. “I had Alex in a collar and leash the whole night, keeping him tight at my side until closing time.”

The image is a pretty one, I’ll give her that.

“I need the Monarch. And I need the two of you.”

“Same,” Vault says, crushing my heart.

I’m not part of the club. I’m an outsider here. And I don’t think I can switch over. It’s not feasible. I have Midnight Run now.

“Then how do we get our cake and eat it too?” Because I can’t see a way for that to work. Someone has to give up something, and none of us are going to do it.

“Are you open to considering exhibitionism in the club, Knox?”

I stare at Sophie. “Exhibitionism? Like how much?”

“What would you be willing to do?” She steps closer to me. “It doesn’t have to be a large audience. I could use room twelve.”

That’s her favorite room, and it’s not very big.

“And what happens in there with us? ”

“The door stays open.” She gets even closer. “And we play together.”

“No one else joins us in the scene,” Vault adds. “They can watch from a respectable distance.”

The idea makes my dick hard.

“Just so I’m clear… I can fuck you both, and you’ll fuck me, in front of anyone who wants to see?”

“It doesn’t always have to be full on sex,” Sophie explains. “We can just tease each other. Punish and reward. I’d want to be your Mistress for most nights, but… I want to submit to each of you sometimes, too.”

My back hits the wall and I almost slide down it. “You’d keep it just us?”

“Yes, Knox. Absolutely.”

My heart’s going to crash out. My gaze flicks back and forth between the two of them because this is wayyyy too fucking perfect to be real. “You’d love me in front of everyone?”

Sophie’s hand covers her mouth, but I don’t pay her as much attention as I do the hardness in Vault’s gaze. He silently opens his desk drawer and pulls out a black gift box. The gift box. The one I thought was going to be my birthday present, but… didn’t he give it to Sophie?

I think I’m losing my goddamn mind.

Vault works his way around the desk and stands in front of me. “I’ll love you… and I’ll let you love me… with or without an audience, Knox. You don’t have to agree to this compromise to keep us. You can say no, and we’ll be okay with it. We’ll respect and understand and honor your decision.”

“He’s right,” Sophie says. “This isn’t a deal breaker at all.

I only want to dominate, and you both give me that already.

And yes, I love working with couples, but that’s a bridge we can cross later.

I don’t ever have to touch them, or them touch me.

I just want to help others find their strength in sexuality. ”

Without her, Vault and I wouldn’t be at this point now.

She’s worked miracles with us. How could I possibly deny another couple a chance at finding what we have?

And… I’m honestly okay if she touches them with some things.

I just don’t want them inside her. She’s mine.

She’s ours. As a Domme, she runs the scenes, and they can’t get to touch her without her permission.

I don’t think she’s ever let anyone touch her, now that I think about it. It’s why I’ve always been okay about her being the most famous woman at the Monarch.

Vault’s been her only exception, and we all see how that’s going.

I can definitely do this. “I want you to stay as a Domme here. Only if you want. And… I think I can get on board with exhibitionism.”

Vault always teases me about being an attention whore.

He’s not wrong. I’ve just never worked myself up to this next step.

The only time someone’s watched me fuck was on my birthday here, with the two of them.

And honestly? I secretly loved knowing someone was always watching on the surveillance cameras.

It was easy to allow an audience because it was Ryker and Dmitri, who I trust.

But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t fuck in public for a stranger to see. I’ve just never had the opportunity.

Damn, my dick is throbbing.

“I want to try.”

Sophie’s eyes light up, and Vault’s shoulders sag with what I assume is relief.

“If I don’t like it, I’ll call Red.”

“I’m so proud of you for being this honest and open, baby.” Sophie kisses me like I’m made of iron, not glass. Her confidence seeps into my system, fortifying me. Pride fills my chest with warmth.

I’ve made them happy.

And I’ve made me happy too because I stuck up for myself and voiced what I wanted instead of going with the flow, regardless of how I felt.

Vault hands me the black box. “Open it.”

I turn it over and stare at his block handwriting. To My Sunrise .

It’s like the whole room shrinks into the size of this small package in my hands. I peel off the gift wrap, and a very painful memory flies to the forefront of my mind.

Alex’s high school graduation .

Letting out a shaky exhale, I slowly open the box and freeze.

The Rolex I’d stomped on gleams up at me. Beautiful, shiny, and still broken. Its hands are stuck at eleven-fifty-two and the face is shattered, but still intact.

“Turn it over,” Alex says.

I pluck it out of the case and it’s like the floor under my feet opens up and swallows me when I read the words inscribed on the back of it.

Stay with me .

“It doesn’t run,” he says, lifting my gaze to his. “And neither will we.”

Emotions clog my fucking throat to the point that I physically cannot swallow. Sliding the watch onto my wrist, I clasp it shut, feeling owned .

“I think someone deserves a reward for their exceptional behavior tonight,” Vault says with a proud smile. “What do you think, Sophie?”

“Most definitely.”

I tilt my head and float with joy. “What kind of reward?”