Page 123 of Dukes of Peril

A slow beat comes out of the speakers. It’s sexy, pulsing. After rolling up my sleeves, I make a motion for him to turn it up louder, engulfing us in the throbbing sound.

Sending her a hard, cold stare, I command, “Dance for your Dukes.”

She doesn’t make it hard for me, turning instantly to the pole, which is a kindness I doubt I deserve. Back in the pit, Daniel always made me be as physical and hands-on as possible. Much like Lavinia, those girls all knew what they were getting into, but unlike her, they weren’t always acting scared of me. Most of them justwerescared of me.

I don’t need to tell her what to do. It’s like the music does something transformative, drawing us into a separate world. She tugs at the garter belt around her waist, as if she could cover up the enticing peek of her tiny black thong, but then wears it like a second skin, turning to show the room her two round ass cheeks.

Any concerns of me not getting hard during this vanish. My cock leaps in my pants, pressing against my zipper as she trails her fingers down the shiny pole in the center of the stage.

She takes a slow, sensuous spin, and the men in the room erupt into rowdy, dirty cheers.

“That’s right, Lucia,” one of them belts out. “You’re our bitch now!”

I crack my neck, holding myself back, but Lavinia doesn’t look fazed at all, turning to nestle the pole between her ass cheeks as she drops, thighs spreading obscenely. She pops back up just as quickly, spinning to pop her hips in time to the beat. There’s a controlled grace to her movements, like a fighter in the ring. My eyes are drawn to how long her legs look with the garters holding up her stockings, then up her body to the sliver of flesh between her panties and corset.Myflesh. My gaze continues to the taunting swell of her tits, pushing out of her top. I thought this would drive me fucking insane, knowing all these men are seeing my girl like this.

But part of me just wants to smirk.

Yes.

That’s mine.

I sprawl a leg out, giving my cock a little room to breathe, but it doesn’t help. Her eyes drop down between my legs, to the bulge created by her, and her tongue darts out to lick her bottom lip.

Fuck me.

I can’t tell if it’s the thudding bass coming from the speakers or my pulse pounding in my ears, but my cock twitches in time to her sways and bucks. Lavinia continues her performance, wrapping her palms around the pole and grinding against it.

Shooting Remy and Sy a look, I realize we’re all sharing the same hungry sense of bafflement.

Where the fuck did this vixen come from? Survival? Instinct?

When she gets close, I grab her by the wrist and yank her over, tired of watching. She falls toward me, crashing sideways in my lap, and I place my hand on her tit andsqueeze.

“Just pretend it’s you and me,” I whisper, keeping my gaze fixed to hers. If I lose her, we’re fucked. My inked knuckles disappear under her hair as my hand tightens on her shoulder.

The nod she gives me is so small, no one would notice.

I shove her roughly to her knees, hearing her startled cry, but knowing it’s not real. The real Lavinia wouldn’t sound so cowed. She’d spit in my fucking face.

Raising my chin, I call over the jeers of the crowd, “Ready to see a Lucia take a Bruin cock?”

The old guy from table three–the one who’d smacked her ass thirty minutes ago–belts out an excited, “Make her choke on it!”

Lavinia looks up at me from between my thighs with shiny eyes.

“You and me,” she mouths, and something passes through us. It’s an understanding we built during all those late nights in a shitty motel room. It solidified that night at the Hideaway, when she agreed to let me fuck her to lessen her value to the Kings. And it imprinted on our souls when she locked me inside a cage of her own, wanting me to feel the same pain I’d inflicted on her.

Lavinia and I understand one another, and right now we both understand we need to get out of here alive.

That time in the pit taught me what people like these want. They want their sex dirty and raw, their women stripped down and degraded. But I don’t plan on treating Lavinia any different than I would if we were alone. She’s mine. Her mouth, her tongue, her body.

She’s mine, and these Royal assholes need to understand that.

I run my hand across her shoulder, skating up her pale neck, all the way to her mouth. When I thumb her bottom lip, her tongue darts out, licking the pad and sending a sharp zing to my balls.

It’s never been difficult getting hard for this girl. Not when she’s looking at me like this. Not when her hands are pulling at my belt and lowering the tines of my zipper. Not when her fingers graze my shaft. I give into the moment, groaning. “That’s right, baby. I’ve wanted this for so long.” She leans into my hand and I run my thumb up and down the column of her throat. “Put your hands on me.”

Pausing only enough to make it seem like reluctance, she reaches into my pants and touches me, her slender fingers cool against my overheated flesh. I hiss as she pulls me out of my pants, my cock swelling against her soft, trembling palm.

---