She corrected her posture, her shoulders straightening as her hands obediently went to her side. Her submissive nature clung to his dominant voice for direction.
He took a drink from his bottled water before he went to the weights and began working out while ignoring her, giving her the time and space to analyze her feelings. He watched as her expressive face showed her resentment at being thrown into turmoil.
“Lose the attitude, Lily, or my hand is going to be on that bouncy butt.” Shade was sitting on the weight bench with the weight paused in an upward position as he took in her look of shocked horror. “I didn’t say I would beat you, Lily. But I will smack that ass if you don’t behave.” His blue eyes stared into her violet ones.
Lily gasped, turning her head toward the wall and breaking eye contact with him.
“Eyes forward,” Shade said, continuing his arm curls.
Lily’s eyes returned to him.
“I shouldn’t have reached back,” she said after a few moments.
“No,” Shade answered. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out her mistake, and she had recovered much faster than he had anticipated.
Lily took a step forward.
“Are you ready to go back to the mat?”
“Yes,” Lily said determinedly.
“Turn around.”
She met his gaze briefly then followed his directions. That time, when Shade grabbed her, pushing her against the wall, she braced herself with her arms.
“What do I do next?” Lily’s voice trembled when he pressed his body against hers.
He talked to her firmly, giving her directions in a voice she could hold on to instead of the threatening darkness. She did exactly as he told her and while her movements were too timid, her initial terror had eased.
Shade released her. “Enough?”
“Yes.” Lily turned around to face him then slid along the wall away from him.
“We’ll work on that until you get it right. You need to learn how to defend yourself when someone comes up behind you. Men who attack women are confident that you’ll panic, that you’ll be too startled to be able to defend yourself.”
“I’ll work on it until I get it right.”
“I know you will. You’re learning fast. I’m proud of you,” Shade complimented.
“Thank you, Sir.” Lily reached out and hugged him. “I really appreciate all your help.”
Shade had to use all his willpower not to drag her back when she pulled away.
“I’ll get changed.” She walked away with a spring in her step.
Shade nearly ran his hand over her ass as she passed him.
He was waiting for her next to the basement door which led outside when he got a text from Viper saying the Ohio brothers were asking about him. He sent a text back that Lily was about to leave, and then he would be up. When she came back within minutes, her eyes traveled up the steps to the closed door.
“It sounds like a football game is going on up there,” she remarked.
“Several of the brothers from Ohio are down for the weekend,” Shade answered, holding the door open for her, anxious for her to be gone. It was only a matter of time before some of the brothers came downstairs.
“Oh.”
Shade was walking her out the door when his cell phone rang.
“Is she gone yet? The brothers are getting anxious, and the women want to play with the stripper pole,” Viper’s voice came over the line.
“Give me five. I need a shower and to get changed.”
“You go ahead,” Lily told him.
“You sure?”
“My car is just around the corner,” Lily said dolefully.
“All right. I’ll see you later,” Shade replied, going back inside.
“Bye.”
He closed the door behind him when he saw her turn the corner which led to the parking lot. Then he went into his shower as he heard footsteps running down the steps from the kitchen. Viper must have given the all-clear for the members to come downstairs.
Shade stepped under the shower just long enough to rinse the sweat off, barely drying off before tugging on clean clothes. He opened his bedroom door, going down the hall.
Evie and Rider came out wet from the room with the hot tub. Evie wasn’t wearing a top, and her shorts had been left unbuttoned while Rider was wearing jeans.
“We were going to have some beer while we were in the hot tub, but someone must have taken the last one from the mini-fridge and didn’t restock.”
“I could send some down for you,” Shade offered as he continued upstairs, following behind Evie and Rider.
“Don’t bother. I forgot condoms, too, so I need to run upstairs to my room for more,” Rider said.
“You shouldn’t have used them all on Bliss,” Shade joked.
“I have more.” Rider tried to pinch Evie’s ass as she went up the stairs first.