Page 30 of Scarlett Thief (Criminal Underground 2)

“Do you see how wet she is?” Wolf asked this time. “They haven’t even begun, but she knows—she’s been trained by Ian. She likes this, and I think you could too.”

I ground my teeth, hating my inability to speak. He’d asked questions, but I still wasn’t sure if I should answer them. And even if I could, the answers were yes and yes. I couldn’t tell him that I thought it was arrogant and presumptuous of him to think I would want the same things she wanted. I pressed my thighs together—even if my pussy tingled at the thought of me up there instead of her. Of Wolf up there instead of Ian. Of even maybe Hadrian up there—wrapping ropes around my arms and legs.

My eyes sought out Ian’s hand as it landed on Mare’s ass making her jump and then relax. It wasn’t a spank—not yet—just a mere caress. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say she was keyed up—so focused on him that every movement he made felt like she was teetering on a knife’s edge. And like her, Ian was attuned to her body. His eyes ate her up, devoured her as if she were nothing more than beautiful art meant to feed his soul.

No one had ever looked at me like that before, I realized. Sure, they’d seen me and wanted me. I’d felt desired before. Coveted. But never needed—not like these two.

“Watch them,” Wolf commanded as he moved closer. I could feel his chest at my spine, the heat of him touching me and making me feel hungry for whatever it was that Ian and Mare had. That she and her men had.

Ian spoke in low tones to her for a moment and when she nodded, he smiled before stepping back. He turned to a nearby table of instruments. There were floggers, butt plugs, and a whip but he reached for the short leather paddle

“That one’s soft,” Wolf said, his voice even. “It’s made of silicone—it’ll provide a nice sting. The longer and narrower a paddle, the more it stings rather than thuds. Watch how he wields it with precision. Ian wants to hurt her, but not too much, just enough to sensitize her skin.”

Just as Wolf was saying, Ian lifted the paddle and brought it down across the back of one of Mare’s thighs. She groaned as it hit her skin, the sound echoing into the air. Ian switched sides and did it again on her opposite thigh. After that, he stepped back to pepper smacks all across her thighs and ass. He worked her over with singular concentration. I felt rooted to the spot, watching as her skin grew pink. Her moans grew louder and her pussy got wetter. So did mine.

“She’s a bit of an exhibitionist,” Wolf confessed. “Though I don’t think she realized it until recently. They didn’t start coming to the dungeons until after they were married.”

Exhibitionist. That meant it wasn’t just the spanking she was enjoying. She was getting turned on by everyone watching her, seeing the way she’d been bound to the bench and was now accepting her Dom’s punishment. When Ian was done with the paddle, he set it down on the table and moved to the front of Mare’s body. She was a trembling mass held together by rope and desire.

As he stepped in front of her, Mare’s head came up and I watched as her lips curved upward. He said something to her and again, though it couldn’t be heard. She nodded once and then he freed himself from his leathers. My eyes bulged as his cock made an appearance, but only for a second before he was cupping the back of her skull and pushing the head of his dick toward her now open lips. It was erotic and depraved. I felt my pussy swell in response; I could feel my wetness leaking down my inner thighs—the thong I’d been given no match for the arousal that had sprung loose in me.

“Do you know why she lets him do this?” Wolf asked. “Do you know why a woman as strong and powerful as she is would let her husband take her in this manner?” He waited a beat, and when I didn’t immediately respond, he sighed. “You can answer me, Scarlett.”

I felt flushed and turned on. “No,” I rasped as Wolf’s arms came around me, pulling me more firmly against him. I repressed a whimper, but there was no stopping the shiver that stole over my body. His lips touched the top of my ear as his hands skimmed down my side.

“It’s because she understands what he can give her,” Wolf said. “Domination. Submission. Control. Power. They’re all just words to explain the true meaning behind this kind of relationship. On the surface, they don’t make sense to people on the outside. Rearrange them and you’ll see the reality. She is constantly in control. Of her empire. Her people. Her business. Her life. Here, she doesn’t have to be. She can let loose. She doesn’t have to be who she is outside of these walls. Here she’s protected and loved and she can be the person she was never able to be before—she can be the woman who submits to men that she trusts and loves.”

People on the outside, he said. I wondered if he meant people like me. Watching as Mare swallowed her husband’s cock to the root, seeing the ecstasy on her face gave me a craving. That was my problem. I called myself Scarlett because I was red down to the core—bloody and broken. The truth, however, was far worse. I was green with envy. I was jealous. I liked feeling men and women covet me and desire me because the fact was that I had so much of my own greed festering inside—I wanted money and things because I couldn’t have the one thing that was worth more than anything any of the jobs I’d ever done before could give me.

Leave it to a man who was likely more irritated by me than he desired me to point it out. I wanted what America Perelli had—people to love me and cherish me and stand beside me no matter what. For me, though, that was nothing more than a pipe dream. I had to be content to simply watch someone else with it and put my skills to use elsewhere.

“Come on,” Wolf said. “They’re about done. Soon as he has her cut off that bench, they’ll be in a private room somewhere.”

I just bet they would, I thought as he turned me around and reached for my wrist. I didn’t fight or argue with him. I simply let him lead me back through the club, heading toward the alcove we’d been in before. When we reached the small area, however, I noticed that Hadrian was the only one left.

“Did you get it?” Wolf asked.

Hadrian grinned and held up a flash drive. “Right here. Everything we need to get our prize.”

It was then that I realized—I hadn’t been needed during this entire thing. I was just window dressing—the same thing I’d been on the arm of every man and woman I’d ever been with. My chest felt tight.

"So, we're good to go then?" I asked, noting that even as I spoke, I wasn't able to push any natural emotion into my tone. I sounded raw even to my own ears. "Great. I'll get changed and we can get the hell out of here."

Wolf's head turned. "Did you forget where we are?" he inquired, tilting his head in what I was sure was a dangerous way. It was an intimidation tactic, one that I didn't much care for right now. I wasn't a true partner to the two of them, only a means to an end. Just like always.

I looked Wolf in the eyes and shook my head. "I'm going to the locker room to change," I said. "I'll meet the two of you in the lobby."

Just as I moved to leave, Wolf's hand shot out and gripped my bicep. "You're still on high protocol," he warned. "Unless you're safewording—"

"I'm very nearly close to it," I snapped, looking down at where he touched me. It was offensive to me. How easily he could touch me—how easily everyone in the fucking world could put their eyes and hands all over me, but it never meant anything. "The job's done. I'm leaving."

He frowned, the Dom in him slipping back as he stepped forward. "What's wrong?" When he reached up to move a lock of my hair back, I nearly stumbled in my haste to get away.

"Nothing," I lied. "I just want to get back to our place and plan our mission. That's what this is all about." I gestured lightly to the rest of the room where strangers played and gave up their time and power and control to people they trusted. Something that would never fucking happen for me. The ache in my chest grew into a burn, a stinging feeling that radiated outward, making me feel pathetic for even standing in the building. "We have a job to do so we can each get back to our lives."

"Our lives?" Hadrian moved around Wolf and suddenly, the two of them stood side by side. Wolf was taller and larger than Hadrian, but Hadrian was no less lethal. His body was like a whip—all lean lines and muscle packed into a tight frame. He would've been hot in the Dominant alpha role too had he tried it on me. I bet the two of them had been planning on it. After all, what else was I good for but a nice hard fuck? I knew that well, and until now, I'd had no problems using that to my advantage.

Seeing Mare and her guys, though, had done something to me. It'd brought that desire I tried to keep hidden to the forefront, shoved it in my face, and then pronounced that I'd never have it. All of my curiosity about BDSM was proof that I wanted something like what she had. I wanted to be able to give up my freedom, to trust someone enough that I would still feel safe.

As I stood there, staring at the two men who currently held my freedom in the palms of their hands, I didn't feel safe at all. I felt vulnerable. Like I was traversing a rocky cliff's edge, inches from falling to my death. It wasn't about the power exchange that came from a Dominant and submissive relationship. It was about the fact that if they fucked me over in this mission, Mr. Black, or whoever the hell was controlling Gaven Belmonte, would see fit to make sure I spent the rest of my life in prison.

It was always a risk in this business, and it hadn't been until I'd already been too entrenched in the dark seedy underbelly of the criminal world that I'd recognized that. Hell, I'd been born in it. I'd never even had a chance.

"There's something wrong," Hadrian said. "You're acting strange."

"I'm acting strange?" I arched a brow at him, pulling the armor I wore so well back around me. It was time I stopped softening for these two. They would do nothing more than stab those vulnerable parts of me if it meant saving their own skins. "I think you two are the ones acting strange—we're not friends, we're not allies. We're business partners and we have a fucking job to do. I suggest you get the information we came for and get back to your computers and tear it apart. We don't want to keep Mr. Black waiting."

With that, I turned and walked away. Every step felt like something was being jarred loose inside of me. I ignored the pain, choosing instead to focus on the sensation of their eyes on the back of my skull, but still, I didn't stop.

I don’t need what Mare has,I forced myself to think.I can have everything that other people would kill for—money, power, and control.Even as those words slipped through my mind, there was a smaller voice, one that I often ignored in favor of saving myself the heartache, that cried out for something more. Something that wouldn't leave me lying cold and alone every fucking night.Some people don’t get happy endings,I reminded that voice. I certainly didn't deserve one. Not after all I'd done.

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