Page 4 of Possession

Chapter 2

Joseph

With a weary sigh,my eyes scanned the room, stopping every few moments to take in a scene being played out. A lusciously curved sub was splayed out on a spanking bench, her juicy ass lightly pink from the love taps a Dom was using to warm her up. His barely-there handprint was quickly fading. Another sub was bound to the St. Andrew’s cross, berry-red nipples tightly clamped and a look of drowsy ecstasy on her face that clearly showed how far into sub-space she was reaching. Yet, even being surrounded by dark and decadent pleasures, I was restless.

With another pass around the place, my gaze landed on my best friend striding toward me. Nat looked pissed. Which wasn’t surprising. Lately, that seemed to be his primary emotion. Even more so than usual. He’d always been slightly volatile, but over the past six months, he’d become increasingly so. Enough that it was affecting our work. He reached the bar where I stood and dropped into the stool next to me without a greeting, merely a signal to the bartender. Klara made her way over.

“You seem overly chipper tonight.”

Nathaniel’s jaw clenched to hold back whatever bitter retort he’d been about to make at her sarcastic observation. It didn’t matter that she was the Dungeon Master of Black Light’s sub, Klara ran a tight ship and you didn’t piss her off.

“Just a rough day,” he bit out instead, while pulling a card out of his wallet and handing it to her. “I’ll take a shot of Patron.”

She produced a small wand and flipped the switch causing a bright purple light to glow and emanate from it. After waving it over Nat’s card and keying his member number into her computer to keep track of his tab, she sent him another assessing glare before pivoting to fulfill his order. Finally, he turned to me.

“Rough day, huh?” I lounged back against the bar on my elbows.

His lip curled in a snarl while he rubbed his forehead as though warding off a headache. “You know it was. And thanks for sticking around after I got called into the Assistant Director’s office, dickhead.”

“What did you expect me to do? Your attitude is what got your ass in trouble. I know you’re frustrated, but man, you can’t keep running off at the mouth. You’re gonna get yourself suspended, or worse, if you can’t fix your shit. I tolerate it because you’re my best friend. The higher ups we report to aren’t going to.”

“Damn it, Joseph, you don’t think I know that?” He spun around in the bar stool and stood to mimic my pose, his gaze unfocused on everything in front of him. Not even the sharp cry of ecstasy coming from the raised platform not far from where we stood could drag his attention from the explosive emotions he kept restrained. “These last two cases have just gotten me off my game. The fucking ‘Casanova’ case has gone completely cold over the last six months, and the Russian is presumed dead. Yet we still have five dead women at the hands of that piece of shit serial killer and hundreds more missing, presumably as part of this goddamn sex trafficking ring. How am I supposed to react?”

I smacked his arm to get his attention back to me. “Definitely not by telling the Assistant Director he has his head so far up his boss’ vagina that he wouldn’t know how to solve a case if it was handed to him.”

Nathaniel smirked a little. “I can’t help it if it’s true.”

I only shook my head. “Regardless, the fact is, you need to keep that shit to yourself.”

His expression dropped again and this time he scanned the room as if searching for someone. “I’m also feeling, I don’t know, on edge I guess. Like something is supposed to happen, but I can’t figure out what. There’s this tingle at the base of my neck, a shift in the atmosphere somewhere signaling that whatever is coming, it’s big.”

Over the last five years working together, I’d learned not to ignore Nat’s instincts. If he said something big was coming, I’d better brace myself.

“One shot of Patron. No salt. No lime.”

Nathaniel turned back toward the bar, grabbed the shot glass, tipped a salute to Klara, and threw it down the hatch. With nary a shudder at the straight liquor no doubt burning a path down his throat, he set the glass on the bar top.

“My thanks, Klara.”

She gave a small smile and snatched up the empty glass before disappearing down to the other end of the bar.

“You better watch it. Next thing you know, Spencer will be riding your ass about showing up here and irritating his woman.”

“Klara secretly likes me, even if she busts my balls on occasion.”

I ignored his comment and brought the conversation back to what was really bothering me. “I’m feeling the same way you are. The restlessness. The frustration. Everything’s getting to me, and I’m barely keeping things under control. Especially after Elizabeth.”

Nathaniel’s lip curled in disgust and his dark eyes blackened with loathing. “That bitch almost destroyed us. Spencer is lucky he revoked her membership. I wouldn’t have been responsible for my actions.”

Five months ago, Nat and I discovered the sub we’d been in a relationship with decided she wasn’t interested in a ménage. In reality, she was a viper we’d unknowingly let into our bed. Looking back, I couldn’t believe how dumb we’d been to let her try and play us against each other the way she had. Thankfully, we’d figured it out before she ravaged our friendship. I didn’t blame him for his anger. I felt it too. Mine was just slower to simmer, while his was fiery and burned deep.

“Maybe we’re both experiencing this agitation because we haven’t had a woman in a while. We’ve come to Black Light every weekend for the last four months, and every time we’ve left alone and frustrated. At least I have. I’m ready to settle down, Nat. Start a family.”

He let out a heavy sigh. “How do you think I feel? I’m closer to forty than thirty. I never thought I’d be saying this, but I want kids just as much as you do, Joseph. You were the one who kept telling me something didn’t feel right with Elizabeth, that there wouldn’t be any doubts if she was the one, but my stubborn ass didn’t listen.”

I’d just opened my mouth to respond when all the air was sucked out of me like a vacuum. Moving across the room was an angel in white. My vision tunneled to include only her. Toffee colored hair was bound on top of her head, a few tendrils cascading down to brush her cream colored shoulders. Even from this distance, I knew the top of her head would barely reach my chest. The large, tortoise shell glasses encompassed half her face, her eyes big and bright behind them. I was dying to see what color they were. Every inch of her body was flawless from the perfectly sized breasts to the dipped-in waist to the flared-out hips my fingers itched to grip.

Unconsciously, I took a step forward, but the hand on my arm stayed my movement. I jerked away and growled at the touch, ready to lash out at whomever was stopping me from meeting this woman.

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