Page 37 of Lesson In Faith

Tamsyn nodded miserably.

Yeah, she hadn’t been in her right mind when she left the house, he thought. After the last few painful days of treating her feet for blisters, she wouldn’t mutilate them again so soon for no reason.

Standing, Merrick hefted her onto his hip, then crooked a finger at the guy desperately trying to avoid his gaze. “You. Come with me. I think we need to have a little chat, don’t you?”

Without waiting for an answer, Merrick retraced his steps back to the anteroom, feeling steadier with Tamsyn in his arms. He’d get to the bottom of what happened, then take her home, back where she was safe.

Violet kept pace with him the entire way. “Try and be nice, Merrick. Blake’s a good Dom, he’s one of the first members who signed up when Serenity opened. He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his contract.”

He just grunted in response. “I need you to message Evander—Evander, not Elias—and tell him there’s been a breach. Gonna need the paperwork delivered to the cabin by morning.”

“You’re thinking about paperwork now?”

“If I don’t, they will.”

He pushed into the anteroom, not missing Ford’s quiet breath of relief when he saw no blood or missing teeth. That relief died when Merrick gently transferred Tamsyn into his care, then turned to bare his teeth as Blake stepped into the anteroom, closing the door behind him.

Merrick’s assessment was brief—five-ten, brown hair cut in a businessman style, eyes several shades lighter than his hair. Clean shaven… everywhere. Lightly muscled, probably visited a gym once a week as a token gesture. No visible scars or tattoos. Average sized dick that had likely been inside numerous women tonight.

Blake lifted his hands in surrender. “Look, Master Merrick, I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was yours. She came in and I just thought she was new to the scene. Not everyone’s been to an orgy before, right? I explained what was going on and she never said she didn’t want to join in.”

The man’s nervous chatter was annoying, but at least he was divulging one side of the story without any pushing; Merrick was saving his mean tactics for when he needed the dirty details. Not that he wanted to know how the bastard had fucked Tamsyn, but if any trauma rose from tonight, he wanted to be able to deal with it.

“I didn’t pressure her, I swear. I was holding her hand, and I led her into the middle. There was no resistance, she wasn’t fighting to get away. Even when she was under me, she wasn’t acting like she didn’t want to be there.”

Merrick’s fists clenched so hard, the knuckles cracked.

This was going to be the end of him, listening to how a goddamn stranger defiled—

“Then she just started making this weird noise. She was aroused—she was wet, her hips were lifting for my dick, man, but that noise…” Blake visibly shuddered, like the sound was going to haunt him. “Fuck, it was like nails on a chalkboard. Like she was in pain, y’know, but pain from inhere,” he said in a low, hollow voice as he slapped his fist against his hairless chest. “I’ve never heard anything like it; never want to hear it again, to be honest.”

Tamsyn whimpered and tried to push away from Fordham.

“So you’re telling me,” Merrick rumbled in an ominous, distinctly possessive tone, “that you didn’t stick that limp dick in my girl?” As soon as he said the words, he kicked himself. Violet was gonna rip him a new one. “You swearing on your life you didn’t fuck her?”

“I’ll swear on any damn thing you want me to,” Blade replied earnestly.

Narrowing his eyes, Merrick growled under his breath as he took several factors into consideration. The guy looked like he wanted to shit his non-existent pants, but it wasn’t out of guilt—the growl might be responsible for that. His body language was reading as fear, not deception.

“Bet you will,” he muttered, then let go of some of his anger when Violet gave him the evil eye. “Tamsyn, is this guy telling the truth?”

Still squirming manically in Fordham’s arms, she nodded fervently.

Damn it. He’d really yearned for a reason to flatten Blake and work off some tension, but there wasn’t any fun in smacking around a man who hadn’t earned it.

Relaxing his jaw, Merrick sighed and jerked his chin toward the door. “Dodged a bullet, Blake. A damn big bullet.”

Blake looked him up and down warily. “Yes sir, I get that feeling.”

Refusing to let his lips twitch, Merrick jerked his head again. “Go enjoy the rest of your evening.” He waited until the guy was halfway through the door before adding, “Blake? Thank you for taking care of her. A lot of guys wouldn’t have stopped, especially when she didn’t use a safeword.”

Now Blake’s eyes flicked over to Tamsyn, sympathy scribed over his features. “Yeah, she did. In her own way.”

The door slapped shut, cutting off the piercing scream of some lucky individual coming on a cock or two.

Wouldn’t it be nice just to strip off his uniform and join in the fray?

Fuck his way through a dozen willing women until his cock finally stopped throbbing?

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