“What do you call hiding away in the middle of fucking nowhere, Sam? And I’m not complaining about the color curtains you’ve put up. There’s a person at stake here. She needs help, not a spanking.”
“Fuck you, Brendan. It’s none of your business.”
“She’s a mess. She’s broken. Do you think you’re helping things by fucking her? Have you got a magic prick, is that it?”
The table slammed. “Don’t talk about her that way.”
There was silence.
“Okay, brother. Okay. Take it easy. I’m worried about you too. You don’t even know her. What if she’s taking you for a ride?”
“Are you worried she’s trying to swindle me out of my dining tables?” her master asked dryly.
“You and I both know you’re more than a goddamned carpenter.”
“You’re right,” her master said. “I should visit the beach today. Maybe I can walk on water after all.”
“Very funny. What about what she wants? Do you think she wants to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere?”
She held her breath to hear her master’s answer.
Finally he spoke slowly, “Why don’t you ask her yourself? She’s standing outside the door. Come in here.” The last was for her.
She stepped out in the doorway, keeping her eyes downcast. Though this time her lowered gaze wasn’t only a symbol of submission but of fear. She didn’t want to know, didn’t want to confirm the suspicion that had gnawed at her since she’d first heard the voice of her master’s brother. Last night… in the dark, he had sounded different. She had thought it was a result of whispering in the night, a result of whatever mood had made him cruel. But if he’d simply been a different person…
“Well, subby?” her master asked, not unkindly. “Do you want to leave here? He’s got a boat tied up just down the beach. You can be on your way to the mainland in a few minutes.”
She shook her head no, vehemently. Daring a glance, she saw her master’s eyes glitter with triumph.
“You heard her,” he said. “She wants to stay.”
“I didn’t hear her at all,” his brother said wryly. “She hasn’t said a word to you?”
She remembered: When I found you, you spoke to me. You said you wanted to go home.
“We get along just fine,” her master said. “I figure that’s part of being a good Dom—reading the body language of your sub.”
“Right. And you were always the good Dom, weren’t you?” He stood. “I have business to take care of, but I’m not leaving the islands until tonight. You have until then to come to your senses.”
He made to leave but stopped beside her. She could see how she’d mistaken him in the dark. He looked just like his brother: the same height and muscled build. The same strong features, with shadows cut into his cheeks and stubble dotting his jaw.
The difference was that while her master seemed to wear jeans and a plain white T-shirt, and maybe the occasional plaid shirt, his brother wore sleek beige slacks and a sharp polo. While her master had dark hair and darker eyes, Brendan was blond with brown eyes that looked unnaturally light, as if she could see through them. His face had more laugh lines than her master’s, but somehow she wasn’t comforted by his humor.
His lingering gaze made her skin crawl, even beneath the lovely modest dress. Leaning back, he stared at her knees, and in his eyes she saw knowledge that damned them both. “Are those bruises I see? I hope my brother hasn’t been too rough with you.”
After he left the room, her master lifted the hem of her dress to examine her knees. “They are a little black and blue. When did that happen—on the beach?” He looked up into her eyes.
It doesn’t hurt, she tried to convey. Although she did feel sick to her stomach now.
“I suppose I can’t tell you that you should’ve said something. But you should have. That’s what the safeword was for. You were supposed to snap if it was too much.”
She gestured to the floor behind her but then let her hand fall at her side. There’d be no way to communicate that she’d actually gotten the bruises on the floor. And even if she could say so, she wouldn’t. He could never know what she had done.
Even though she hadn’t had a choice, hadn’t even known it was betrayal at the time, he could never know that his brother had fucked her. She felt sure of it, from the competitive way they treated each other to the possessive way her master looked at her. He wouldn’t have shared her willingly, and he wouldn’t be happy to know it had happened while he slept.
If she wanted to stay here—and oh, she did—then she would have to keep it a secret. Well that wouldn’t be too hard for her, after all. It was his brother Brendan she was worried about.
“I suppose you wouldn’t say it was too much, would you? Wouldn’t think so after what you’ve been through. Those marks on your body…” He looked at the door where his brother had left. “I’m going out for a walk today. I was planning on taking you, but now I don’t know.”