Boston Avant-Garde 5: Bellicoso (18 page)

Demon made a low sound of reproof that drew Selena’s gaze away from Malachi. “He makes it sound far less mercenary than it was. Seraph acquired my services right before Malachi showed up. We hadn’t even been in the States for that long.”

“I remember that day I met you.” Malachi finally turned his head, his gaze seeking Demon’s. The obvious connection made her shiver. Would she ever have that with the two of them, or was she destined to stand just outside the light?

Demon laughed. “You looked like a vagabond. No parents, living on the street, already realizing you had a deep desire for submission, and yet never finding the right Dom to take you in hand.”

“How did you know?” Selena turned to Demon, desperately wanting to understand. “How can you just know he was a submissive? Do we give off some kind of vibe or something?”

“It’s sort of like that, yes.” Demon pushed his hair back, looking distracted. “Some people are just more in tune with the animalistic side of their nature. Those like me have a deep desire to control. Be it from a place of love or anger. Others are like you. Your body language tells me all the time that you want nothing more than a patient hand to love and protect you. It’s more than control, Selena. It’s a combination of acceptance and respect. A good Dom knows how to create safe boundaries that help a submissive become confident in their own right.”

“Seraph was the opposite.” Malachi’s voice was soft. “She wanted more than submission. She demanded complete loyalty, obedience, and adherence to her will. She stripped away my self-confidence, even my sense of who I was until I couldn’t see past what she wanted me to do or say or be.”

“It lasted a year before I couldn’t take it anymore,” Demon interjected. “I’d watched a woman use a combination of abuse and mental manipulation to reduce a beautiful and slightly rebellious seventeen-year-old to a robot.”

Malachi clasped his hand around Demon’s ankle. “Demon had always been a part of my life here at Triptych. He was in the background, but he started sparring with me. He convinced Seraph it would increase my stamina and flexibility.”

“All true,” Demon pointed out.

“But you started rebuilding my self-esteem too. I’d had a shit childhood. My father left before I was born, and my mom was an addict. I’d grown up in foster homes and on the street, never sure where my next meal was coming from. I’d started selling myself once I realized it was no different than foster care. Demon was the first person to actually
see
me.”

Selena couldn’t bear the horror of what Malachi described. She thought of the antagonistic relationship between her and her mother and siblings. Her family might be pushy and overbearing, but they’d provided a safe environment to grow up in, even if it had been on the stuffy side.

Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked furiously to hold them back. She wanted to curl up against Malachi and soothe it all away, but Demon had already done that. What was left for her to do? She was nothing more than an afterthought.

Why am I always just a pretty piece of fluff?

“After two years, Seraph realized I was no longer her man. At least not the way I had been. I did what I was told, but she didn’t get that feeling from ordering me around anymore,” Malachi said with satisfaction.

Demon seemed to know Selena needed clarification. “Seraph needs to sense her sub’s worship in order to be satisfied. Once Malachi was done giving it to her, she needed leverage. That’s when she stopped taking birth control and got herself pregnant.”

“Oh my God.” Selena covered her mouth in disgust. She couldn’t possibly fathom how repulsive it would be to find herself parenting with someone like that. Malachi’s refusal to ejaculate inside a woman’s body made a lot of sense when put in that light.

Trust has to be earned before it’s given.

Malachi turned his head and met her gaze. “As you can imagine, Allie has become the ultimate bargaining chip.”

“That’s why Demon was the one visiting her yesterday,” Selena guessed. “You’re trapped here.”

“I’m not even supposed to know she’s going to school in town.”

Selena had never seen Seraph, yet she’d spit on her if given the chance. She’d never felt that much hatred toward anyone before in her life. Especially not someone she didn’t even know. What kind of woman played those kinds of games, not just with a man’s life, but with a child’s?

It occurred to her that everything the three of them had done, this strange interlude, and whatever happened next was probably all against Seraph’s wishes. The thought was almost terrifying.

“Malachi and I have been together since Allie was one year old.” Demon anticipated her thoughts once again. “Seraph is willfully blind, though I believe things are about to change.”

“Because of me?” It made Selena uneasy to think her presence in their lives was going to make things worse for them.

“Among other things.” Demon reached over and brushed the back of his hand over her cheek. “You’re worth any amount of trouble, little one.”

“But how does this end?” A faintly panicky sensation made her heart flutter. Being with her wasn’t any sort of benefit to either of them, and Malachi would probably never trust her anyway. She was just a brief diversion.

“Demon said you dance. Can you show us?” Malachi’s deep voice pulled her back to the present.

She knew a quick subject change when she saw one, but was grateful for the distraction. “Right here?”

“There’s nothing sexier than a naked woman dancing.” The light in his gray eyes made her burn inside.

“Would you like me to hum?” Demon’s flat tone belied the mirth in his expression.

“You two are shameless.” She rolled off the edge of the bed and tried not to shiver as the cold stone froze her bare feet.

Demon chuckled. “Yes. We most certainly are.”

“And it’s better that way,” Malachi added.

She stretched a little although her muscles felt pleasantly warm and loose from the energetic sex. Still, it was fun to bend over and give them a view of her naked backside. The appreciative noises were worth it.

“Forget dancing.” Malachi nudged Demon. “I want to watch you spank that ass.”

“Down, boy.” The phrase sounded ludicrous in Demon’s cultured voice.

Oddly enough, the short adagio of exercises Madame Denis had gone over during her evaluation weren’t the first to pop into her thoughts despite the fact that they were the first ones she’d danced in three years. Instead it was the “Waltz of the Flowers” she could hear in her head. The soft tones of the horns leading into music that never failed to make her imagine whirling daisies, daffodils, and roses. Her favorite, like Allie’s, was the Dewdrop solo. However, doing that particular program sans toe shoes on a stone floor was asking a bit much of her body.

I feel like those flowers.

She arched her arms over her head and let her body settle for four counts. Contemporary dance had never been Selena’s forte. She’d always found her niche in the predictability and rigid discipline of classical ballet. Yet there in the training room beneath the warm regard of these two men, she discovered something rather profound.

She wasn’t afraid to let go. These two would always catch her.

DEMON WATCHED SELENA’S expression go from pensive to serene, and felt his soul respond to her tranquility. It was astonishing to watch her lithe body move with such precision. It reminded him of his own morning routine. The exercises that kept him honed and fit were as much a form of discipline as Selena’s dancing.

“So beautiful,” Malachi murmured.

Demon had to agree though he couldn’t verbalize anything. He absorbed the smooth muscles bending, flexing as she executed an arabesque only to travel down and then lift one leg nearly to her shoulder. She leaped gracefully, landing balanced and ready to spin into a series of pirouettes. He knew from watching Allie that Selena’s leg propelled her with perfect timing, her body whipping into each turn. Her movements were wistful, seductive, and yet innocent in a way that stirred Demon’s protective instincts.

When her arms fluttered into one final pose, her chin tilting down toward the ground, Malachi gave a low wolf whistle. She gazed up at them from beneath her lashes, and Demon’s insides clenched. Her allure was unmatched. Nothing had prepared him for this. He wasn’t a man given to expressing passion. Much of the affection between him and Malachi was understated. They understood each other on a basic level that transcended the need for constant affirmations.

Selena was different. Demon wanted to hold her close and stroke the softness of her skin. He simply didn’t know how to drop his shell and make her understand what he needed.

Malachi’s phone trilled, shattering their private world.

Selena looked startled. “What does that mean?”

“That would be the real world requiring my attention.” Malachi stood and stretched.

“You have to go?” She wrapped her arms around her chest.

“Demon will stay here with you, sweetheart.” Malachi hopped a little to get his pants over his hips. He shot her a look of the devil. “It’ll be a chance for you two to get better acquainted while I close up the club.”

Demon lounged on the bed, waiting to see how she would handle this latest piece of their developing relationship. He’d be a fool not to realize she was apprehensive about being alone with him. He could even guess why.

“I’ll see you in an hour or so.” Malachi drew her close and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

“Um, okay.”

Malachi gazed at Demon before dipping his head in a familiar gesture of respect. Demon waved him on. He watched his lover, a man who was far more partner than submissive, exit the training room, and wondered where their relationship would stand once Seraph’s controlling hand was gone and they were free to go their separate ways.

Chapter Seventeen

Selena wasn’t certain if it was excitement or panic making her heart pound and her blood rush through her veins so quickly she thought she might faint. The last thing she felt ready for was a one-on-one in-depth discussion with the Demon of Triptych. Especially since one teeny-tiny rebellious piece of her was ready to jump his bones and beg him to fuck her.

Why was she so horny? She’d had more orgasms in the last few days than she’d had in the last several years. She should be satisfied. Hell, she should’ve been good to go for another few years. Except she was starting to think she craved what Demon had proved himself so capable of giving.

Something that doesn’t really have all that much to do with orgasms.

“You dance beautifully.”

He shifted on the bed, and her eyes were drawn to his abdomen. He was impossibly muscular. She wanted to touch him so badly her hands clenched involuntarily at her sides.

“Come and relax with me. I promise we’ll do nothing but talk if that’s what you’d like.” He flipped his hair back. “You can ask any questions that come to mind.”

It was an enticing offer though she hadn’t a clue where she’d begin. What if her questions made him mad? She wasn’t afraid of being harmed by him, just displeasing him. Which was weird in and of itself.

“Are you a martial arts black belt or something?” She climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged, pulling one of the throws over her body to ward off the chill. “Is that why everyone is intimidated by you?”

“Something like that.” He smiled so warmly she felt as if the sun had come out. “When I was a child, we learned kung fu in whatever style had been passed down through our family. My grandfather used to say that our ancestors were masters of the Dragon style. Personally I tend to think that’s more legend than fact.”

“So what are the facts?” She could have listened to him forever. His voice possessed a soothing cadence, an almost indiscernible accent coating his words when he spoke of China.

“The facts are that our family has always practiced an external form of kung fu that focuses on muscle strength and fitness in a basic style common to other areas in Southern China.”

He made himself sound so commonplace. Her heart wouldn’t buy it. “You’re not basic though, are you?”

“Such intuition for a little one. Many people would have taken what I said and let it go.” There was pride in his gaze. Not for himself, but for her. It warmed her inside to make him so. He sighed deeply and pursed his lips. “I simply have a talent for anticipating my opponents. That’s all.”

“Meaning you’re a dangerous man to piss off.”

He held his hands out, palms up. “These are simply tools. I can use them to create or destroy.”

She didn’t know where the lines were in this relationship. She only knew she wanted to remove the shadow from his beautiful face. At the risk of stepping beyond the bounds of their agreement, Selena took one of his hands in hers and pressed his palm to her cheek.

Her doubts melted when he cupped her face and gently traced her lower lip with his thumb. “If you want to know something, little one, you must ask. There is never a penalty for asking.”

“How do you always know what I’m thinking?” It wasn’t her initial question, but it was something she wanted to know.

He took her hands and tugged her closer. Her skin came alive as he coaxed her to straddle his hips. The throw she’d been using as a barrier against the chill was forgotten when the heat from his body seeped into hers. She felt shy with her naked crotch pressed so intimately against his groin.

He held her chin between his thumb and index finger. “Your thoughts are written all over your face.”

She pulled away, embarrassed. When had she become so transparent? She’d been raised to keep everything carefully hidden. Plastering her thoughts on her face was not an acceptable flaw for an Aasen.

“As I told you. I’m rather good at reading people.” He forced her to meet his gaze. “And my answer to the question you refuse to ask, is that you may touch me any way you wish.”

Surprised, she reached out and tentatively brushed away a hank of silky hair hanging across his right eye. He remained still, regarding her with his unfathomable black gaze.

Feeling bolder, she threaded her fingers through his hair and pushed it back to expose his handsome features. “Oh.” The soft sound escaped on a sigh.