Page 7 of Dance for Me

His usually upbeat and cheerful manager looked as though someone had dropkicked his puppy off a rooftop. Gray eyes were haunted, rimmed with dark circles—Braun wasn’t lying when he said Liam would scare off the customers. The boy had lost some weight over the last couple weeks, and Braun was concerned for him.

William Carradine was a good friend, an excellent manager, and Braun trusted him not only with his club, but with his reputation. Bisexual with a leaning more toward men, the Dominant held everyone’s respect and the subbies flocked to him like rats to the Pied Piper.

“Phone’s off,” Liam muttered as he polished a glass with lethargic precision. “Won’t answer my calls, my messages. I think she’d slam the door in my face if I went to her apartment. I fucked up, Braun. I seriously fucked up.”

Yeah, his friend needed a good kick up the ass, all right. Good job Braun had already taken steps to get his buddy back into the right frame of mind. “You sound more like a submissive than a goddamn Dom right now, boy. Maybe I should ask Connie to take you upstairs for a few hours, spank this shit outta you.”

Capable hands set the shined glass on the shelf beneath the bar, picked another up out of the dishwasher and began to polish. “I know you’re joking, but I’d deserve it. What I said was out of order. Her family’s a huge sore spot for her and I opened my big mouth without thinking and punched her right where it hurts.”

Braun rubbed his chin and propped a heavy boot on the stool next to him. He much preferred his current attire to the damn monkey suit he’d been forced to wear today—black jeans, black silk shirt, and his steel-toed boots set him in the right mood for dominating pretty little subs. “She’s what, early thirties? She’s an adult, Liam, my lad. She’ll come around.”

“Twenty-seven,” Liam corrected with a sigh. “Her family is...they’re fucking assholes, to be blunt. They’ve treated her like shit since she was a kid. Her sister got in an accident when they were younger, and her parents blamed Bodie. They made her life hell until she moved out, then they started taking money off her as soon as she got a job and started earning.”

Eyes narrowed, Braun tried to digest that. “What, a few dollars every month?”

Liam’s laugh was brittle and bitter. “I wish. She handed over almost two grand about six weeks ago. It was everything she had saved up, her rent money, the lot. And before you say something about her not giving into her family’s demands, the assholes operate the same as any blackmailers do. If she doesn’t give them everything when they order her to, bad things happen.”

Fury kindled in his gut. “Bad things?”

Liam swapped glasses again. “She refused them a couple times when she was younger. I think the first time she was maybe eighteen. Just moved into her own place, some shithole she could barely afford. The landlord was an asshole, refused to do repairs, harassed her if she sneezed. She came home and her father was waiting for her. He’d trashed the place, smashed up the door and spray painted the walls with obscenities. He roughed her up pretty bad, warned her if she didn’t pay what she owed, he’d send his friends next time...and they’d do more than just smack her around.”

Heavy boots hit the wooden floor like gunshots. “Her father threatened to have his friends rape her?”

“Abraham doesn’t threaten. If she hadn’t paid him everything she had at the time, he’d have done exactly that.” The same fury bubbling in Braun’s blood gleamed in Liam’s eyes. “The second time was a few years later. Bodie had enough of handing over her savings and stood up to her mother. Brave of her, considering she’s...not endowed in the confidence department sometimes. She hates confrontation, and her mother thrives on it.”

What the hell kind of family had raised the girl? Braun wondered. They sounded more like monsters than humans. His hand clenched tightly around his soda, hard enough he thought he heard the glass crack. “What happened?”

“Diane’s a hardcore bitch. She’s notorious in the area where we grew up. By the time she was fifteen, she ran her own gang out of her parents’ garage and terrorized the neighborhood for years. Robberies, muggings, assault and battery...you name it, Diane had a hand in it.”

Braun set his drink aside before glass and soda exploded over the spotless bar. His rage was no longer kindling but a roaring wildfire. “Tell me, Liam.”

“Diane ambushed Bodie on her way home from work a few nights later with a few of her old gang buddies. They hacked off her hair, stripped her naked and chained her to a construction site fence. Sliced up her back from nape to ass, spray painted fuck me down her front, and left her. Luckily the site manager arrived earlier than the rest of the crew the next morning, a decent guy who didn’t take advantage of Bodie’s condition. He called the cops and an ambulance. He was still trying to cut the chains when the police arrived, but Bodie wouldn’t talk to them.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t go pay them a visit.” His voice was tight, and he reined his temper in before he did something he’d regret. He hated violence against women—and yes, he was aware of what happened in his club and what he himself did with whichever submissive he played with, but the difference came down to consent.

Liam slapped his cloth down on the bar top and scrubbed his hands roughly over his face. His blond hair was stuck up in spikes and he’d given up shaving since this disaster kicked off, so he sported the makings of a damn fine beard, giving him the appearance of a young Viking warrior. “I offered. Hell, I was frothing at the mouth. But Bodie, she knew what would happen. Just like she knew the consequences of talking to the cops. Even if they locked Abraham and Diane away, they both have connections capable of hurting Bodie on their behalf. I couldn’t take that risk.”

Braun resumed drumming his fingers on the wood. “No, I don’t think I could either. So, you compared your girl to her family which, now you’ve explained a bit more, seems like a sucker punch. I can’t see you knocking boots with a lass who’s anything like what you’ve described, so what made you do it?”

His friend absorbed the hit, then reached for a shot glass and poured a good slug of vodka. “First off, she’s not my girl and we’re not knocking boots as you so eloquently put it. I don’t think Bodie’s been intimate with anyone since she lost her virginity to the neighborhood jackass when she was sixteen. She’s my best friend and, fuck, maybe I have feelings for her that aren’t strictly in the friend zone, but you know my kinks, Braun.”

Okay, Braun thought, we’ll avoid the second half of the question for now. “I’m familiar with them, yes. You’re also a Dominant with a fucking good radar for submissives. Are you telling me she doesn’t possess one iota of submissiveness you can work with?”

Liam downed the shot and eyed the bottle longingly. Knowing Braun’s rules for drinking and playing, he dutifully set his glass in the dishwasher and returned the bottle to its shelf. “She’d submit. I know she would; it’s been programmed into her for years. I just don’t know if she’d enjoy it in this context. There’s a lot of anger buried deep inside that sweet girl, a lot of issues. Her father’s prejudices have taken root to some degree and when she’s nervous or afraid, she lashes out with the same crap that spews from his mouth. It’s the reason why I didn’t tell her where I work or what I am. It’s what I used to hurt her.”

“Did you want to hurt her?”

His friend paused, his glum expression turning thoughtful. It pleased Braun that he hadn’t immediately denied his intentions, whatever they were, but that he was taking the time to consider the possibilities before answering. It was that kind of thinking that made Liam an asset not only to Braun’s working team, but to the Dominant force within the club.

“No, I didn’t say it to hurt her,” he said slowly. “She asked me if I was ashamed of this place, of being what I am, because I hadn’t told her about any of this. I just wanted to explain why I thought she wasn’t ready and...shit, I wasn’t trying to be cruel.”

Braun thought of the slim little female he’d come across on the street corner. The lass had expressive eyes. A little fearful, fascinatingly blue, and sad down to the soul. He’d seen the weight of the world dangling in that unhappy gaze. “If it was said without malice, you stand a chance of righting it, boy.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to me.”

Braun grunted. “You’re a Dom, Liam. You’ve earned your stripes on the battlefield of men and women; you know how to deal with a stubborn woman. If she doesn’t want to talk, you make her fucking listen.”

A laugh rumbled free. “Sneaky, boss.”

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