Page 6 of His to Keep
“He didn’t force me,” I whisper, not sure why his words and demeanor are making me feel so shameful. “He just…he’s mydom,” I say, at a loss. “It’s his job to make these decisions.”
Luke’s hand clenches on his beer bottle and I wonder for a second if he might throw it. He takes several deep breaths before meeting my gaze again. “Tell me, Rebecca—are you his only sub?”
I shake my head. “No, sir. There are two more.” At least. Aden doesn’t exactly confide in me about these things. The only reason I know about the two is because he’s brought them to the playroom before. I push back a shudder at those memories.
Luke nods. “And outside of the club—do you see him?”
“I…” I’m not quite sure what he means. “There’s another club we go to sometimes. And once in a while he’ll request I come to his house. Or accompany him to a work event.”
Luke’s eyes are boring into mine. “Do you date? Do you spend time together outside of the lifestyle? Is your relationship romantic?”
I can’t help the snort of laughter at the last question. Romantic and Aden Roth are not words that would ever go together. Then I remember that my behavior could very well be reported to Aden and I force my expression into something more neutral. “Not romantic, no. Like I said, he’ll sometimes bring me along when he needs a date for work events, but other than that, we don’t see each other outside the lifestyle.” I swallow. “I wouldn’t categorize it as dating.”
“He’s not your boyfriend?” Luke presses.
“No, sir.” In fact, Aden had been completely clear about that from the start. Our dom/sub relationship is just that—a sexual arrangement. He’s been very firm on this point, reminding me time and again not to expect anything else.
“You don’t wear a collar,” he points out, gaze flicking to my bare neck. Aden had never asked, and I’m certainly not hoping for one. A collar represents a level of commitment that makes me uneasy just to think about.
“No, sir,” I tell him. “Our relationship…it’s not like that.”
Luke’s face finally relaxes. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
I’m not sure what to make of any of this. I’m getting the definite impression that Luke isn’t the type of guy who likes to share. But he hasn’t asked me anything about my sexual experiences with Aden—only about the emotional status of our relationship. Why would that matter to him? He won me in a freaking lottery, for God’s sake. The entire point of the exercise is to objectify the submissive, right? Why should he care if I’m in a romantic relationship with my dom when the dom in question clearly wants me to be here?
Luke takes a seat on the edge of the bed, facing me from a few feet away. “Rebecca, let me ask you something.”
“Okay.”
He studies my face. “If your dom hadn’t entered you into The Draw, would you be here right now?”
I wonder if I should lie. There’s probably a correct answer for this situation—no dom would want to hear that the girl he just won doesn’t wish to be with him. But when I look into Luke’s intense brown eyes, I find that the lie won’t come.
“No, sir.”
He nods, a muscle in his cheek ticking. “I thought you might not be enjoying yourself on stage.”
My eyes widen. “How could you tell that?”
He shrugs. “I guess I’m pretty good at body language.” His lips tug up at the corners. “And I spent quite a bit of time studying yours up on that stage.”
My heartbeat goes crazy. He was watching me up there? That seems unlikely. I saw the other women who were standing in that lineup, every one of them taller, thinner, more glamorous, more beautiful than me. How could I have captured his attention amongst all of them?
Over on the bed, Luke lets out a sigh and begins to rise to his feet. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Rebecca.”
I startle. “Am I leaving?”
He looks more than a little disappointed. “I’m obviously not going to make you go through with something you don’t want to.”
“You’re…not?” That makes no sense to me. Isn’t the entire point of this lifestyle for doms to make their submissives do what they want?
His gaze sharpens on my face. “Of course not.”
“But…” I don’t want to tell him what has fear coursing through my veins. If he sends me away, Aden will know. And he’ll figure out pretty quickly that it was my fault. God knows what he’ll do then.
“What?” Luke presses, taking a step closer.
I look him up and down, trying to get a read on him, trying to understand his strange behavior. “If I stayed,” I whisper, a new kind of fear shivering over my arms. “What would happen?”
