“Is it too late to go sit down?” I ask.

“It’s way too late for that, Anika,” Rowan says as he and Max slowly walk towards me. I continue to back myself up. From where I am, I can go upstairs or out of the front door. I could keep going down the hallway but then we’d end up in the bedroom where there would be a one hundred percent chance they would relentlessly fuck me. Truth be told, I want them to. I don’t even care that Theo is here. I need an escape, but I also feel like Theo is definitely going to press me to talk about why I am reacting this way.

“Annie, stay in front of the door please,” Theo says. He is looking at me in a way that tells me that I need to diffuse this situation.

“Emma, you’ve been Theo’s sub before. Right?” Rowan asks, watching me.

“No. Rowan,” I say with anxiety in my voice.

“You see… We had a conversation with Theo, Emma, and Mia. We have all come to realize that you are the most responsive when you are being dominated. The only time you easily see past the trauma and process it without hesitance is when you are at that club. Work may be your sanctuary, but that club is your therapy and has been since the day you met Max. We tried to do this by just talking but you willingly put yourself in a position where you knew we’d come after you because that is where you are most comfortable,” Rowan says.

“What do you mean?” I ask in a small voice as I continue to back away.

“It means that every time you act like a brat with Theo, you will be punished by one or all of us,” Max says.

“And what about this punishment?” I ask. I glance at Theo and when I see him stand up, I have my answer. “Oh shit,” I say as I turn on my heels and run up the stairs.

I don’t get more than four steps up before Max grabs a fistful of my hair by the root and pulls me backward. When I’m close enough to him, he spins me around. Theo then wraps his hand around my throat and gently pushes me back against the wall.

“Why are you acting like this Anika?” Theo asks softly. His voice is gentle, but his body language is anything but. For some reason, this makes me weak in the knees and I don’t know how to process that.

“You have a wife,” I say in a quiet voice.

“Yeah, and she has a boyfriend,” he says with a smirk. They are poly. That’s my luck; I find a psychiatrist who can help me but he’s a poly dom and is looking at me like he’s going to bend me over these stairs and fuck me until I tell him all of my deep dark secrets.

“Oh,” I whisper.

“I don’t like repeating myself, Anika,” he says still in that same gentle voice. I grit my teeth and sigh. Every single part of me wants to fight against him and see how far I can push him until he breaks. Why, though? When I still don’t answer he tightens his hold on my throat and I unintentionally whimper.

Fuck, this is hot. Why does this turn me on? I wonder if Dr. Dom knows why my body begs to be fucked when Rowan and Max dominate me. I guess he falls into this also because my body is trying to trick me into continuing my fight so that he will fuck me. I can see it in the way he is looking at me, but he is showing an incredible level of self-control right now.

“Do you want to find out why I told you not to wear any panties with that dress?” Rowan asks.

“Fine. Jesus Christ, It’s just because I am self-conscious. Okay? Happy?” I say to Theo with an attitude. Theo moves his hands to either side of me, boxing me in.

“Why do you think you are self-conscious?’ he asks.

“I don’t think this is how a psychiatrist should act,” I say in an apprehensive tone.

“And I don’t think this is how a submissive should act,” he says, challenging me. “You have a safe word, Anika. You are free to use it at any moment.”

Shit, he got me there. I don’t want to call it. I want these three beautiful men to fuck me senseless until all my thoughts are sorted. That can’t be a very mentally stable way of thinking.

“I spent my whole life being called fat and ugly by my family and eventually Isaac joined in on the name calling, so now when it comes to anything intimate it makes me nervous for people to know because I feel like I’m being judged,” I explain quietly.

“Why do you care if I judge you?” he asks.

“Well considering you are six inches away and you are looking at me like you are going to bend me over something, I feel like thatone should be obvious,Doctor,” I say. Everyone laughs but Theo smiles in a way that makes my breath catch in my throat.

“The only opinions that matter are those of your husband, your boyfriend, and your friends. Outside of that, no one else matters,” Theo says simply.

“Are you my friend, Theo?” I ask with obvious sass in my voice and a sweet smile on my face.

“Emma, Isaac was banned, yes?” Theo asks, keeping his eyes locked with mine.

“Yes sir,” she says happily.

“We’ll be out there in a second,” he says vaguely. Everyone walks outside except for Theo, Rowan, and Max.