At His Mercy (13 page)

* * * * *

Kyler forced himself to wait until the end of the day before driving over to TK Technologies. He had his reasons
for waiting
, the main one being if he did find out the driver of
what was once his leased
Lincoln
was Matt Becker, he wanted to follow him
,
see if he’d head back to Stacy’s house.

He couldn’t imagine why Becker would pay Stacy a personal visit. She was a
Domme
. He was a manipulating ass, not a submissive. A blackmailing, manipulating ass.

Maybe he was ready for another promotion, already. Stacy was
the CFO’s secretary, most definitely
in a position t
o help him
if he was after a bigger fish
. Shit, that had to be it. Stacy’s calls, her nervous act when he’d gone to her house, she was looking for his help but was afraid to ask.
She was in over her head.

Becker was at it again.
But t
his time, he’d
catch the asshole in the act.

He had his chance a few nights later.

Because Kyler had been in Stacy’s home plenty of times, he knew her
patio door
didn’t lock
properly
. He’d told her to get it fixed more than once, but she’d shrugged him off, joking that he was more worried about her safety than she was. Besides, it locked fine
, at least at first glance
. Anyone who th
ought to break in would think so
. But if they jiggled the door a certain way, the lock disengaged. How likely was it that a guy would stand around playing with a door, hoping it would magically come unlocked?

This was why he’d known she wouldn’t fix it.

Sure enough, a little jiggle and the lock flipped up. He was in, and no one was the wiser. He could hear voices, Stacy’s and Becker’s, coming from down
in her personal bondage dungeon, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Being careful to avoid making any noise, he slowly descended the stairs to her finished basement, stopping before he reached the bottom.

“You’ve been such a good slave,” Stacy said. “Come here. Serve me. On your knees.”

W
hat the hell?
It seemed Kyler had been wrong about Becker. He was a submissive.

But
he supposed that didn’t
mean he’d also been wrong about Becker’s reason for being in Stacy’s house
. He could still be trying to manipulate her.

There was only one way to find out.

He raced down the rest of the stairs and stepped around the corne
r, finding Stacy perched on the bondage chair she called her
throne, eyes closed, Becker’s head between her spread legs. Her eyelids snapped up a split second after Kyler cleared his throat.

“Kyler,” Stacy said, eyes widening for a single heartbeat before narrowing again.

Becker’s head swiveled as he twisted at the waist, glancing over his shoulder.
“Kyler?”

“Don’t stop, slave.” She fisted Becker’s hair and yanked, turning him back around. “T
his is quite a surprise
.
I didn’t even hear you knock.
”

“
That’s because I didn’t. I…
You never fixed the lock.”

She smoothed her hands down her
torso,
sheathed in a red PVC corset,
her splayed fingers coming to a rest just above her belly button.
“I was hoping it might come in handy someday. And it has.”

“Then you
want people breaking in your house
?”

“
Only one.”

Kyler shook his head. “What the hell is going on here, Stacy? I came here today, thinking Becker was maybe trying to blackmail you like he did Elena.”

“How gallant of you,” she said, a sultry smile blossoming over her face. “But you’ve got it all wrong, in case you didn’t realize that by now.”

“Why don’t you tell me how it really is then
?
”

Her smile faded.
“
I can’t believe you didn’t
p
ut it all together.
You’ve really disappointed me. In fact,
I’ve
totally
lost interest in our game
now
.”
She curled the fingers of her right hand into Becker’s hair again and pulled, glaring down at him. “What the hell are you doing? You don’t eat me like a toddler lapping at a lollipop
, you worthless animal
.
Either do it right or leave.
”

Was this the same woman he’d known all these years? On the outside, she looked the same. But the Stacy he knew was down to earth, easy to talk to. Outside of bondage play, she didn’t play games.
“What game?”
Kyler asked, completely bewildered.

“This one.
The game we’ve been playing since the day you dumped me.
”

What the hell?
“I never dumped you. We were never…together.”

Something flashed across her face, but the expression didn’t remain there for long. In less than a blink, her expression was
frosty
again.
“Is that really what you believe? Do I need to remind you of what you said to me?”

Kyler was so confused, he didn’t know what to say next. Obviously, he hadn’t just misread Becker, he’d also misread Stacy. In a
huge
way.
Looked like he’d somehow mislead her too.

He couldn’t remember having ever said anything to make her think they were lovers. They’d never
flirted. Never kissed or
fucked. They’d never played
in a dungeon
together. They’d never shared any rea
l
l
y
deep intimacies.
All they’d ever done was talk.

“It looks like you do
need me to remind you
.” Cruelly, she shoved
Becker’s head from her then kicked him in the center of his chest with her spike-heeled boot.
“You’re done. Go, learn how to eat pussy right. And don’t come back until you do.”

Becker fell backward, catching himself with his hands before scrambling back into his submissive position on his knees.
“Yes, Mistress.”

Dressed in
her
PVC corset,
and matching red fishnet
stockings and knee-high boots, Stacy sauntered over to Kyler, sliding a black-painted fingernail between her lips. “
I care about you, Stacy
,” she said, throwing his own words in his face. “
Like I haven’t cared about a woman in a long time.”

Shit, he had said
that
, a long time ago
. And he’d meant
it
at the time
. But not in the way Stacy had
thought
. “I meant
I care about you
as a friend. You’re a
Domme
. I’m a Dom. Neither of us are switches.”

“You could be. If you wanted
me
bad enough.
You’d be
come
a switch if you loved me.
”

“
Why would you ask anyone to become something they’re not if you love
him
? That’s not what love is all about
, making people change
.
”

“Hey, I watched you over the past how many years
?
How many women have you tried to ‘fix’?”

She was right. Now that he thought about it, he had tried to change more than one of his former lovers. He’d fooled himself into thinking it was okay, by telling himself that he was helping them become better.
“That was before. I know better now.
Love is about…”
H
e hesitated, realizing
the real reason why
every
one of his
former
relationships
had failed
.
It wasn’t because he’d been trying to change the women.

Love is about
trusting, becoming vulnerable,
giving of yourself, your heart and soul. Whether the one doing the loving is a Dom or sub or neither.

He’d always thought he’d known how to love. But he hadn’t.
He’d only known how to play
the role of lover
.
H
e’d always been the kind of guy to throw expensive gifts at his women. But that wasn’t truly giving. Those things had only been poor substitutes for the one thing his l
overs had all been asking for
—
h
is heart.
Just maybe, if he’d taken the chance, let himself become vulnerable, rather than focusing on how he could fix the woman or how she was failing him, he would have found true happiness with one of them.
Maybe he could have spared himself and them a lot of heartache.

“
Oh, are you going to get all philosophical on me now, Kyler? That’s so not you.
” She sighed as she circled him, her eyes assessing.
“You’ve always had the
unfailing ability to fool yourself into thinking you s
ee
the truth, both in yourself and in everyone around you.
Has that changed?
”

“If you’d said that a month or so ago, I’d have
had
no idea what you were talking about.”
He swore his blood had turned to ice, he felt so cold right now.

She stopped directly in front of him then, her expression turning haughty.
“Then you’ve had a revelation. How nice.
Aren’t you going to thank me
?”

“No. Thank you for what?”

“Blackmailing Becker into getting you fired.”

“I
quit.”

“Yeah, right.
You quit.
” Smiling, she patted his chest.
“
You had no choice
. Although I’ll admit, I was surprised to see you give up. I figured you’d put up at least a bit of a fight
. After all, you were so proud of where you’d gotten yourself
.
”

“Let me make sure I’ve got this clear
—
y
ou were the one who cooked up that scheme with Elena and the money?”

Stacy shrugged
again
. “Maybe you expect me to be sorry, but I’m not. You didn’t deserve to be VP. Becker does. He may be on his knees, but he has a spine…and a heart.”

“So that’s really it? You did this because your feelings were hurt?”

“No, I did it because you needed me to.
You see, I turned it around. I fixed you.
Now
, thanks to me,
your eyes are open and you’re not fooling yourself anymore. Someday, you’ll see that and thank me.”

He’d heard enough. He
spun around
, hands clenched into tight fists,
emotions
pounding through his body.
He was confused and hurt and sad and furious, all at the same time.
He’d been betrayed by a woman he’d once considered a
good
friend.
In one respect,
he’d love to bring her down
for what she’d done
, and
Becker
for the part he’d played in it too
.
He’d lost a job he’d worked hard to earn.

But he was done with them, with games, with the shit.
He left, not speaking another word.

He realized, after sitting down that night and taking a good, long look at his relationship with Stacy, that the only way to deal with someone like
her
was to walk away.
Fate
had a way of
taking care of
the rest
.

At least, in the long run, she’d taught him some things about himself. Maybe she was right. Maybe someday he’d thank her.

“You don’t have to do this if you’re not ready.
Like I’ve said before, you don’t have to do anything to prove something to me.
” Kyler stood
inside his
front door, his fingers curled around the handle. He was wearing his typical Dom gear
—
leather pants, and leather strap harness that showed off his amazing upper body. “If I officially present you to the group
tonight
,
instead of just having you there as my gues
t
,
you’re going to be nude, touched by strangers, expected to play the part of perfect submissive. Not to mention, you may see me play with other submissives, both men and women.”