Forever Yours, Sir (22 page)

But not tonight.

***

Eight
days later, Cady smiled at Hunter as he pulled out a chair for her. He took the one beside her as the others entered the conference room. She’d barely seen Hunter this last week since the raid on The House. He’d left early each morning, coming home late at night. He looked thinner, exhausted and she knew she didn’t look much better.

She’d spent this week constantly looking over her shoulder, jumping at
things; she’d nearly taken Tiny’s head off when he’d walked up behind her. She couldn’t keep going this way, but she hadn’t found the opportunity to talk to Hunter.

He’d had his own demons to face.

The last to arrive was Stanson. He nodded at everyone before taking a seat.

“First, I just wanted to say thanks for all your help over the last week. We’re by no means finished processing through everything, but I wanted to update you all.”

“That means thanks for your help but you can fuck off now,” Jaron said. The others laughed.

Stanson just shook his head. “Look, I’m in much the same position as you. The Feds are now involved and we’ve basically been
shoved aside. Since they discovered all these girls were illegals they’ve been all over this. And some of them really are young. The youngest is fourteen. She’s been there over a year.”

“
Sick bastards,” Tiny spat out.

“Yeah,” Stanson agreed. “Laurenson still isn’t talking, but some of the girls told us there was definitely a big boss, someone Laurenson answered to. They called him Master
M. A couple of them saw him, we have a description. Enough to I.D. him.” Stanson nodded at Connor who tapped something on his computer. A couple of photos appeared on the wide screen set up at the end of the room.

“Malcolm O’Keen. Head of the
O’Keen family,” Gray said.

“
You know him?” Stanson said with surprise.

“I know of him. He’s based in Chicago, though.”

“He’s got ties to Dallas,” Stanson said. “A cousin, Christopher O’Keen.”

“Let me guess,
he goes by the name of Cris Laurenson now,” Curt said.

“Got it in one,” Stanson replied. “
Laurenson is so arrogant that he made mistakes and he wasn’t always careful about who he talked in front of. Worthington was up to his neck in this. He helped the O’Keens find these women. He told the girls that if they didn’t do exactly what he wanted then he would alert the authorities and their families would be deported. Most of these girls are terrified of the authorities; they would have gone with him quietly.”

“What will happen to
those women now?” Cady asked.

Stanson looked tired. “They’ll be reunited with their families. Beyond
that, I don’t know.”

Cady
couldn’t help but feel furious on their behalf. They’d gone through hell to enable their families to stay in this country and now it could all be for nothing.

“
As you already know Connor found an old email between Laurenson and Worthington.” Stanson looked straight at Hunter. “In it they talk about the fact that Angie knew too much. Worthington said he would take care of it.”

Hunter nodded.

He hadn’t slept the night that Connor had found that email. She knew he still blamed himself, thinking that he should have known what was going on with Angie.

She’d tried to convince him otherwise, but she figured he had to work through his guilt, much like she’d had to with Rusty’s death.

“Like I said, Feds have taken this over now. They’ve got Malcolm O’Keen in custody.”

“Let’s hope they’ve got an airtight case, O’Keen is a slippery bastard,” Gray said.

Stanson ran his hand over his face, looking exhausted. They all sat talking for another twenty minutes before Stanson stood up to leave.

Cady cleared her throat as the others went to leave. “Before you all go, I need to
talk to you about something.”

“I’ll see myself out,” Stanson said.

Everyone stared at her curiously.

“What’s going on?” Hunter asked her.

She reached around and grabbed the bag she’d brought in. She dragged out the envelope and spread the photos out of the desk where everyone could see them.

Hunter stiffened beside her. “What the fuck are these?” he asked.

“Nine days ago, I went to my apartment to grab the mail. This envelope was there and these photos were in it.”

“And I’m only just hearing about this now because…” Hunter said, glaring at her with cold eyes.

Cady swallowed heavily. “I was going to tell you right away, but it was the same day you stormed The House. Then, well, the moment never seemed to be right.”

Jaron whistled. “Someone’s stalking you.”

Gray cleared his throat, turning their attention to him. “Do you have any idea who might have taken these photos, Cady?”

She shook her head. “I
don’t know. I’ve been on high alert since I got this, watching everyone around me, I can’t spot him.”

“He knows you’ll be watching for him now,” Jaron said.

“Got any old boyfriends? Anyone you might have turned down?” Curt asked.

“No, no one, well…”

“Well what?” Hunter growled.

“One of the reasons I wanted to leave Austin is because of this guy, Sean. He volunteered at one of the shelters. He came on
to me, wouldn’t take no for an answer. I had to get forceful with him. But he didn’t take the hint. I never went back to that shelter, but I’d still see him around, watching me. It creeped me out.”

Hunter swore. “Y
ou didn’t think to tell me this?”

“It was before I came here. I thought it was taken care of. It might not even be him, how would he know I was in Austin?”

“You haven’t kept a completely low profile,” Josh pointed out, looking concerned. “You were in the papers and on the news after you took on the Cowboy Adonis.”

“Oh shit.” She felt sick.

Hunter stood, pacing. “So either this guy or someone else has been stalking you, taking photos.”

“They’re not happy with you being with Hunter,” Gray said, looking over the photos. “Every photo with him in it has his face scratched out.”

“You don’t think Hunter could be in danger, do you?”

Hunter stopped pacing, turning to stare at her. “I’d worry less about me
and more about your own butt.”

“The name of the place where
he got these printed is on the back, I’ll go check this place out, see if anyone remembers anything,” Jaron said, taking the photo of Cady standing in the window of her apartment with just a towel round her.

“Hey, why are you taking that one?” she protested.

“Because that’s a photo someone would remember.” He winked at her and Hunter growled.

She watched him warily.

“From now on, you don’t go anywhere without me, got it?” Hunter snarled.

“And backup,” Gray said smoothly. “
Don’t worry, Cady, he’s not going to get anywhere near you.”

“And Hunter, you’ll protect him too
,” she insisted.

Gray nodded. “And Hunter. Tiny, Curt, go to Cady’s apartment, see if you can figure out what angle he’s taking some of these photos from. See if you can find anything else of interest.
Put in some extra security.”

Gray turned to them. “Hunter, take Cady home
to your place. Both of you are exhausted. Josh will go with you.”

“I’m perfectly capable of protecting Cady myself,” Hunter growled.

“But this way you can both get some sleep, knowing Josh has your back. Don’t argue with me, Hunter. We’re running this as we would any job and I’m in charge.”

Hunter leaned down on the desk, staring at his partner. Tension rose in the room and Cady felt sure they were going to come to blows
then Hunter stood up and nodded his head. He held his hand out to Cady.

***

Cady stepped out of the bathroom into their bedroom. Hunter had barely said two words to her since they’d left the office. When they’d arrived at his house, he and Josh had searched the place from top to bottom, looking for any sign that this guy had been here. She hadn’t even thought of that, that he might have invaded their living space.

Exhaustion now weighed her down, making her limbs heavy as she sat on the side of the bed and brushed her hair.

Hunter stepped into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. “Josh is staying the night. I’m going to take a shower.”

“Does he need anything? Blankets? Food?”

“He’s fine.”

The bathroom door shut behind him. With a sigh, Cady got dressed in some soft pants and a t-shirt, not bothering with underwear. She looked longingly at the bed, but her stomach was growling and she knew she wouldn’t sleep until she ate.

She walked out into the living room to find Josh sitting on the couch watching T.V.

“Hey, thought I’d get some food, you hungry?”
she asked with false cheer.

“Yep, that’s why I ordered Chinese. Enough to feed half a dozen people, so there should be some left for you.” He grinned at her.

She smiled back, but it was a wobbly smile at best.

“You okay?”

Cady sat on an armchair. “I feel like I’ve barely slept. I’m jumpy as hell, I keep looking at everyone around me and thinking,
is that him
?’”

“Understandable. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell anyone?”

“Hunter’s been waiting to find out what happened to Angie for a long time. I was going to tell him, but there just never seemed to be the right time.”

“You should have made time. You should have told me the minute you found that envelope. You know I would have dropped everything.”

She looked up at Hunter who walked through the door. He’d showered and changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, as well.

“I know. I was going to tell you, but then you came home after The House had been raided and I figured what was going on there was more important. I couldn’t pull you away from
that.”

“That wasn
’t your decision to make,” he said coldly.

“You know, I’m going to
take a shower before dinner arrives,” Josh said quickly, moving into the guest room and attached bathroom.

“You are mine to look after,” Hunter said stalking toward her.
“Mine to damn well protect. But I can’t do that if you push me away.”

“I wasn’
t pushing you away, I promise. But I know how important this is to you. I didn’t want to pull your attention away when you were so close to finding out what happened to Angie.”

“Don’t you understand?” he said as he sat on the coffee table across from
her. “You are more fucking important to me than anything else.”

She shook her head.

“Yes, damn you.” He grabbed hold of her shoulders and shook her. “You are what is important. You. Your safety and happiness. That is something I will not compromise on. How would you feel if I’d kept something like this from you?”

She licked her lips. Hurt. Angry. Upset. “I’m sorry. I really am. I thought I was doing the right thing.” Tears filled her eyes and he swore as he pulled her up and sat on the armchair with her in his lap.

“I know, baby. But don’t you ever hold anything like that back from me again, got it? Or the spanking you’re going to get will seem like child’s play compared to what I’ll do.”

“You’re gonna spank me? Now?” her voice squeaked.

“No. I prefer to take care of punishment right away, but not tonight. We’ll do it at the Twisted Thorn.”

“Where everyone can see?”

“Where we’ll be well protected and I can concentrate on what I’m doing.”

Fuck.

Cady pulled nervously at her short, leather skirt. Hunter had picked out her outfit; she wouldn’t have chosen something quite so tight. A form-fitting, sequined top completed the outfit. He hadn’t left her any underwear.

“Quit tugging at it, you look lovely,” Sasha said from beside her. The other woman was the one who looked be
autiful. Her silken blonde hair fell down her long, naked back. The tiny dress she wore dipped so low in the back her ass almost showed.

“Nervous?”

“As nervous as a fat turkey in November,” Cady replied.

Sasha grinned and took hold of her hand, tugging her along. The Twisted Thorn was a far nicer club than the one she’d attended in
Baton Rouge. The woman’s dressing area had large, comfortable sofas, plenty of showers and lockers as well as a number of well-lit mirrors. As she and Sasha stepped out into the corridor, she immediately saw Simon and Hunter waiting for them.

Hunter stood there, watching her for a moment before gesturing her forward.

“You look gorgeous.”

“I look like a slut.”

He narrowed his gaze, looking at her in disapproval. She swallowed heavily.

“You didn’t give me any underwear,” she whispered.

“I didn’t want you to have any.”

He turned her around so she faced Simon and Sasha. Before
coming to the club, they’d gone through her limits. She was still nervous as hell. Hunter intended to punish her tonight. He cupped her breasts. “Simon, what do you think of my sub?”

“I think she’s beautiful.”

“She is, isn’t she? More beautiful than she knows. More precious than she realizes.” He stepped to her side and took her hand. “Come.”

“Shouldn’t I follow two steps behind you or something?”
she said sarcastically.

He grinned. “Well, it would show the proper level of respect to your master.”

She glared at him.

“But I want you where I can see you.”

A dark look entered his gaze and she knew he was thinking about the stalker. The one they had yet to catch. They had discovered that Sean had taken a leave of absence from his job in Austin and had paid his rent for the next three months. The landlord said he hadn’t seen him recently.

The place where the photos
had been developed had been a dead end, but Tiny had discovered that the stalker had been taking photos from an empty apartment across the street from hers. The empty food containers and blanket indicated he’d been squatting there.

Hunter stopped and turned toward her, lifting her head with a finger under
chin. “What was that thought?”

“Nothing.”

He smacked his hand down on her ass.

She glared up at him. “I was thinking about Sean.”

Hunter stared down at her sternly. Then he pushed her hair back off her face. “Not tonight. Tonight, all you need to concentrate on is me. Understand? You only have to concentrate on pleasing me.”

“There goes that ego again.”

Hunter steered her over to a sitting area. He sat on a chair, indicating for her to kneel on the floor. Gray was already there, a beautiful brunette kneeling beside him. Mila was kneeling beside Josh, her head in his lap, her eyes closed as he ran his hand through her hair. She looked so peaceful. Cady felt a surge of jealousy.

That was what she wanted. To just let go, to just be in the moment.

Hunter ran his hand over her head as he chatted to Curt who was sitting next to him. He held a drink up to her mouth.

“Take a sip,” he told her.

She drank some. Vodka and orange juice.

Hunter placed the drink back down on a table and went back to talking. But his hand remained on her head, reminding her that he was there.

Gradually, bit by bit, she found herself relaxing. Every so often, Hunter would hand her the drink, or run his hand through her hair.

Suddenly, he stood and held
out his hand to her.

“C
ome, beautiful girl.”

She took his
hand and let him help her stand, walking with him as he moved through the club to a free spanking bench. Hunter helped her kneel over it, face down. He fastened her legs and arms with leather straps. Then he ran his hand down her back. She hadn’t even realized she was shaking until he leaned in and caught her gaze.

“Okay, baby?”

She nodded.

“Words.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“What’s your safe word?”

“Red, Sir.”

“G
ood girl. You please me very much, Cady.”

“I thought the reason I was here was because you were angry with me.”

“I’m not angry with you. But I aim to make you think twice before you ever keep anything important from me again.”

Hunter pushed her skirt up, exposing her backside. He ran his hands up and down her ass and thighs. He crouched, licking at her pussy until she was squirming, biting down on her lip to stop herself from begging him to let her come.

Then he pulled away and she couldn’t help but groan in protest. Hunter kissed each of her butt cheeks before he moved away.

“Oh,”
she moaned.

She watched him grab
his play bag. He brought out a flogger. He ran it over the bare skin of her arms, her legs.

“Nice and soft, isn’t it?”

He moved behind her, whipping her buttocks gently with the flogger. It didn’t hurt, instead it drove her need higher, the heat growing gradually, spreading throughout her body.

Then he sto
pped.

“How are you, Cady?”

“Good, Sir. I’m good.” Better than good, she was on the edge. She needed to come.

“That’s good, beautiful girl. I’m moving to the paddle. This won’t be fun for you. It’s going to hurt. This is punishment.”

“I know.” She was ready. She hoped.

Fuck. Why had he promised her punishment?

Because she kept things from you, something that could harm her.

He tightened his resolve, even though he longed to skip the punishment part, he could just keep flogging her until she came. He knew she was close.

But that wasn’
t fair to either of them.

“I trust you.”

Those were the sweetest words he’d ever heard. Hunter gave her a lingering kiss before grabbing his paddle from his bag. He placed the paddle on her lower back before smacking his hand down firmly on her butt, aware of the audience behind him. Picking the paddle up, he gave her five firm smacks.

Cady groaned, growing tense. He rubbed her lower back. “Cady, you okay?”

“I’m good, Sir.”

He could hear the tears in her voice. He smacked the paddle down again.
Another five times. Her ass was turning a deep scarlet.

“Cady?”

“Good, Sir.”

Her voice was shaky. She was close.

He gave her two more smacks and he heard her let out a sob. Finally. Relief flooded him. He didn’t like causing her pain. Well, pain that she didn’t enjoy. He put his paddle aside and quickly worked at untying her.

Hunter
gathered her up into his arms, taking the blanket that Sasha handed him with a nod of thanks. Placing the blanket around her, he had her kneel by his bag as he quickly tidied up. Then he motioned a sub over and asked him to take his bag to Simon’s office before gathering her back up in his arms. He walked next door into the aftercare room. This room was dimly lit and quiet. There was soft music playing. Large, comfortable couches were spread throughout the room.

Hunter
chose a couch in the corner. He lay down on his back, pulling her on top of him so her chest rested against his. He tucked the blanket over them both and held her. Her sobs soon quietened, becoming soft sniffles.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He stopped rubbing his hand up and down her back. “What for?”

“For keeping things from you. I shouldn’t have
—”

“Shh, that’s forgiven now. I doubt you’ll think about doing that again anytime soon, right?”

He patted her ass and she winced.

She shook her head. “No, I think we can safely say I’ve learned that lesson.” She glared at him. “That damn well hurt.”

“It was meant to.” He sat up, sitting her on his lap. She winced. “I didn’t like causing you pain, Cady. At all. Please, don’t do anything like this again.”

“I won’t. I
promise.” She hugged him tight. “Hunter?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Take me home and fuck me.”

Cady felt like she was in a daze as Hunter led her over to the womens dressing room. He stopped briefly to talk to Simon who smiled at her kindly. She could feel herself blushing, knowing he’d probably watched her get her ass paddled.

The tight skirt she wore didn’t help the deep throbbing in her ass, trapping the heat in. She’d be glad to get into something more comfortable.

Hunter continued on to the dressing room. “Go have a quick shower and get changed. Simon said Sasha is in there.” He frowned. “Maybe I should check inside first.”

“Hunter!” She pushed him back, well, she tried to. He wasn’t moving unless he wanted to. “You can’t go in there. I’ll be fine. I really doub
t anyone is hiding in the women’s dressing room.”

“All right.” His tension eased a li
ttle. “Fifteen minutes. Any longer and I’m coming in.”

“Yes, Sir.” She saluted him, squealing as he smacked his hand down on her ass again.

She quickly entered the women’s dressing room. “Sasha, you in here?” she called out, moving to the locker where she’d placed her clothes. “Sasha?”

There was the sound of a door locking and she spun around to see a terrified-looking Sasha standing by the door, a knife at her throat. Sean stood behind her, his face filled with rage.

“Hello, Cady.”

***

Hunter was pacing up and down the hall outside the womens dressing room. It had been close to twenty minutes, where the hell was she?

“Hey, Hunter, have you seen Sasha?” Simon asked.

Hunter stopped moving. “She hasn’t come out? Neither has Cady. I’m going in.”

“Wait.”

Hunter ignored him, striding inside. The room looked empty, but a low moan came from around the corner by the showers.

“Sasha!” Simon yelled, racing around him to kneel by his wife who was looking up at him in a daze, a large cut on her forehead.

Simon pulled off his shirt, placing it against the cut on her head.

“What happened? Simon?” she asked weakly.

“Cady? Cady, where are you?” Hunter searched through the dressing room as Simon called someone on his cell phone. “She’s gone.”

“He took her,” Sasha said weakly as Tiny, Josh, Gray and Curt came racing into the dressing room. Mila followed close behind, letting out a cry as she saw Sasha.

“Who has her, darlin’?” Simon asked gently.

“She called him
Sean. He had a knife.”

“Pull the video feed from the corridor,” Gray said urgently. “I want to know how he got in and out of here. Now.”

***

Cady came to with a groan to find herself sitting in
the front passenger seat of a speeding car. Her head was throbbing and nausea bubbled in her stomach.

“Where am I?”

“With me, my love.” She turned slowly to find Sean sitting in the driver’s seat.

“You knocked me out.”

“Yep, and then I carried you right on out of that club in a large duffel bag.” He laughed. “No one even saw me.”

“What exactly do you plan to do with me?” Cady asked as
Sean pulled her through the parking lot. “You won’t get far before they know I’m gone. They’ll find me.”

“How? They have no idea where I’m taking you.”

She swallowed heavily. He was right.

“How did you get
into the Twisted Thorn?” she asked. Everyone needed to show their membership ID at the front desk.

“There’s a lot you can do with money, you’ve just got to work out who to bribe.”

“Why? I mean, why me?”

“Beca
use you’re mine,” he said fanatically. “You were always supposed to be mine. I could have taken you from that life. I could have set you up in a nice place, with nice things. You were supposed to be mine!”

Christ, he sounded like
a petulant kid who’d had his favorite toy taken away.

“And then you ran away from me. I couldn’t find you. Until I saw you on the news, standing outside your apartment building after that wrestler hurt you.”

So that’s how he’d found her.