An Unexpected Win (4 page)

“I guess you’ll be staying the rest of the week, if you’re still okay with that. I’m really sorry, honey.”

“I understand, Master.”

Carter gazed into his sub’s eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Shelby nodded.

Hawk cleared his throat. “Can he go pack by himself, or do you need to oversee him?”

Carter frowned. “He can pack himself.” He glanced at Shelby. “Go ahead, trey. Take whatever you need.”

The meek man hurried off.

Hawk turned to Kel. “Would you give us a minute please, babe?”

“Sure. I need to call my mother anyway. Today was Dad’s cardiac catheter procedure. I should check in.”

“Go do that. Give them my best.” He watched Kel step into the other room, then turned back to Perry. “Wow, you’re allowing him so much freedom all of a sudden. Are you sure he’ll know what to pack without you there directing him?”

Carter rubbed his temples. “I’m nursing the hangover from hell, and not really in the mood to play guessing games. So you can either tell me what the fuck you’re talking about, or we can skip it. I’m fine either way.”

Hawk took a step closer. He towered over Perry by a full head and had at least thirty pounds on the man with the big mouth. “I’m talking about your TPE relationship with trey, the slave you rank one notch higher than shit. I had a hard time believing him at first, but he doesn’t seem to know what to do when he’s not sleeping in a cage or drinking out of a hamster bottle. Poor sorry bastard could barely drink a beer without spilling it all down his front. Don’t you think that’s pretty extreme? I mean, I realize he works for you here, so he doesn’t have to be around people. But damn it, man, he wouldn’t know how if he had to! I enjoy sexual role-play as much as the next Dom, but you’ve taken Dominance to a whole new disgusting level.”

Carter stared at him with wide eyes for a long moment then he laughed. The quick, sharp chortle was followed by a long, belly-holding, eye-tearing-up roar. “TPE? Are you fucking kidding me?”

Confusion flooded Hawk. “He said you call him ‘trey’ because it’s one of the lowest cards in the deck. He said he can only drink out of his special bottle…” Hawk allowed his words to trail off. Carter was still howling. He knew, at that moment, that he’d been had. “The little fucker.”

“Oh, yeah! He got you but good!” Carter swiped tears from his eyes and tried to speak coherently. “I call him Trey, everyone in his family does, because his Daddy’s name is also Shelby. His folks always intended to call him by his middle name, which is Trey. Shelby Trey Mitchell.”

Fury rose in Hawk and he repeated, “Little fucker.”

“Sleeps in a cage and drinks from a hamster bottle?” Carter held his rolling belly. “Come, look in our bedroom. I promise you, you won’t see any such thing.” He led the way down a long hall.

Hawk glanced in each room they passed. Everything appeared neat and tidy, with no evidence of a cage in sight. The bedroom was large, stylishly decorated in shades of black and gray. There were two large dressers—one held photos of Carter and some people who appeared to be family. The other had several framed pictures of Shelby—Trey—smiling with Carter, his family, some children and horses.

A suitcase was spread out and partially filled on the bed. Hawk heard the sounds of water running behind a door to what was obviously an adjoining bathroom.

“This is Trey’s dresser.” Carter opened a drawer. “He likes his boxers folded in thirds, so that’s how I do it when I wash the laundry.”

Hawk wanted to melt into the floor.

Carter extended a hand. “No cages. No hamster bottles. He does have a thing for Dasani water, even though I try to tell him that tap water is just as clean and much less expensive. If you look in the fridge you’ll see his stash, right next to his hoard of dark chocolate and peanut butter. He has a sweet tooth, but he works so hard and exercises so much I can’t deny him his guilty pleasures. Did he tell you he’s my business manager? Every poker gig I’ve gotten in the past three years is thanks to him. He negotiates the best for me.”

“He didn’t tell me. He wouldn’t say a word, other than the pieces of information I pried out of him.”

“Erroneous information,” Carter interjected.

Hawk scratched his head. “Why would he do that? Are you hiding something from me? Is he forced to sleep in the basement, or another room?”

Carter dropped to the edge of the bed. “No. He’s not. And we don’t practice TPE. We role-play about once a week, a little more often if the mood strikes. But it’s strictly sexual. The rest of the time Trey does as he pleases.”

Hawk frowned, confusion waging war with embarrassment. The man
had
played him. The question was
why
? “He went to elaborate lengths to make up such a story. Why would he have done that, Perry?”

Carter shook his head. “I’m not sure. Maybe he was trying to pay me back for losing him in a poker game. His story made me look like a shit, after all.”

“It sure as hell did. I was feeling sorry for the poor bastard.”

Biting his lip so he wouldn’t laugh again, Carter looked away.

The bathroom door opened and Shelby paused, looking from one man to the other.

“Trey, you son of a bitch!” Carter couldn’t hold back, he cackled again. “You really had this guy going. What the fuck were you thinking?”

Hawk folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not quite to the point of seeing the humor, yet.”

Shelby crossed his arms right back and stared Hawk directly in the eye. “You arrogant prick. You really think you can
win me
in a poker game? I’m a damn good submissive. I would have sucked you off during that game, or done anything I was ordered to. Tell me to bend over and let every Dom in the room fuck me. I would have done it, because it was all in the guise of good, clean fun. But winning me in a poker game? I don’t fucking think so.”

“Your Master
asked your consent
before he offered you up, and he took a good bit of ribbing for doing so. Nick Fontana is a highly respected and powerful businessman, and lest you think he’s just the arrogant ass he seems to be, know this. He’s a multi-talented fundraiser who’s brought in more money for the St. Mark’s Children’s Hospital than their board of directors can even believe. But he’s a hard partier at the Rose & Thorn. His subs do what he says, when he says. He’s got two of them wearing collars. And your Master cared enough about you to humiliate himself in front of someone like that to ask your permission last night.”

Carter stood and faced Shelby. “You could have said no, sugar. I still would have lost. A full boat doesn’t float up against four of a kind, any way you look at it.”

“I would never tell you no in front of other Doms, Carter. That would have been the ultimate humiliation. This way, you came off looking like a caring Master. I left with Tonto—everyone thinks we fulfilled the deal.”

Hawk bristled at the slur. “Then you acted like such a disgusting little beast that I didn’t want anything to do with you. Hoping that I’d send you home—was that the expected outcome?”

“That’s right. I could tell you didn’t like what I was saying, so I tried to make it as nasty as I could.” He offered Carter a sly smile. “I told him you withhold bathroom privileges from me when I misbehave.”

“You have definitely misbehaved, that’s for fucking sure.” Carter turned to Hawk. “I think punishment is in order. I can do it here, or you can take him home and do it there. At least ten lashes, I’d say. If you don’t have a paddle, a wooden spoon or similar utensil should work fine.”

Hawk raised his eyebrows. “Ten lashes, eh? He tried to make fools out of both of us. I’d say twenty is in order. I have a riding crop, or a leather paddle. Either one should do nicely.”

Shelby’s eyes widened.

Hawk thought he saw a spark of interest, but he needed to be sure. “Your little game is over, Shelby Trey Mitchell. If Carter hadn’t asked your permission to be used as barter, I’d nullify the deal. But he did ask, and now it’s up to you to pay the piper. I had ten thousand dollars in that pot. You can either pay me ten grand, or come back with me for the rest of the week as agreed. Be advised, if you come back, there will be punishment.” He took a step closer. “There’ll be great pleasure as well. But there will, indeed, be punishment.” He set his jaw.

The front of Shelby’s pants twitched.

Hawk held back his smile. The sub was aroused. He continued to glare, hoping to make the man squirm.

“I don’t have ten grand,” he finally said.

“So? Are you willing to hold up your end of the deal? I told you last night I’m very good to my submissives—that hasn’t changed. But you were bad, very bad, and you know deep in your heart you deserve what’s coming to you.”

“Or not coming,” Carter interjected with a smile.

“Well played.” Hawk nodded. “Mr. Perry, since he is your sub, and he did try to embarrass us both, I wonder if you’d like to come back to my place and participate in the punishment? Ten lashes from each of us is what we agreed on, no?”

Carter grinned again. “I think I’d like that very much. Thank you, Mr.—”

Hawk extended a hand. “Nighthawk. Yuma Nighthawk. My friends call me Hawk.” He glanced at Shelby. “Or Tonto.”

The sub cleared his throat. “Sorry about that.”

Hawk smiled. “So what should I call you, Mr. Mitchell? Shelby? Trey? Pathetic little worm?”

He batted his long blond lashes. “My friends call me Trey… Hawk.”

“You finished packing? We’ll get this show on the road.”

“Yes.” Trey zipped his suitcase and hoisted it up. “I’m ready. I’ll ride with you, Carter.”

Hawk waved a finger. “Nope, I don’t think so. Kel can ride with Carter, show him the way. You are with me, young man.”

Trey pouted as he stomped down the hall. “I’m not that young.”

Hawk glanced at Carter. “He’s, what? Twenty-five?”

The man nodded. “He’ll be twenty-six soon.”

“I’ve got underwear older than you, brat,” Hawk muttered.

Carter chuckled. “So do I.”

Kel waited by the front door. Hawk didn’t like the expression on his partner’s face. “What is it, babe?”

“Probably nothing. My mom’s kind of freaking out about the procedure. I think I should go be with her and Dad.”

“Of course you should. Did you want me to come with you?”

“No, but thanks for offering. I’ll just go home and throw some stuff together and get on the road. I can be there in a couple of hours.”

Hawk touched his cheek. “Whatever you need to do. I’ll go with, you know I will.”

“Thanks, but it’ll be fine. Besides”—he glanced at the other men—“you seem to have your hands full.”

“Speaking of which, would you please ride with Carter and direct him to our place? Trey and I will be in the truck.”

“Sure.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Carter and I are old friends by now. Let’s go, friend.”

They headed to Hawk’s house in a convoy. He glanced sideways at the submissive, whom he was now seeing in a new light. “Why’d you do it, Trey?” he finally asked.

The man eyed him nervously. “I explained why I lied.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I get why you did
that.
I didn’t touch you last night, yet I woke up to your kissing me. If you wanted to go home so badly, why did you come to me in the night?”

A small smile creased Trey’s pink lips. “Curiosity, I suppose. I caught a glimpse of you under the sheets and wanted to see it with my own eyes.”

Gazing straight ahead, Hawk felt a surge of pride. “And did I please you?”

“Oh yeah.” He chuckled.

Hawk glanced at him sharply.

“Yes, Sir,” he corrected, then smiled again.

Satisfied for now, yet filled with his own curiosity about the enticing submissive, Hawk drove home.

Once there, Kel packed a bag and prepared to leave.

“Call me if there’s any news.” Hawk gave him a sensual kiss.

“I will.” Glancing at the two men looking around the house, he replied, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Hawk watched him leave from the doorway. “Which pretty much leaves us wide open.”

“You got it.” Kel winked then got into his car and backed out from the garage.

Hawk closed the door and went to join his guests. “Can I offer anyone a beverage? Soda? Water? Beer?”

“I’ll take a beer,” Carter piped up.

“It’s not even noon yet.” Trey’s voice was hushed.

Hawk heard him anyway. “It’s nearly noon. We can all have one beer. Is anyone hungry? I hadn’t realized the time.”

“I could eat,” Trey said.

Carter shook his head. “No thanks, the beer will be fine.”

Hawk procured three bottles from the fridge and passed them out. “Then we’ll wait to eat.”

Trey frowned. “I said I was hungry.”

Hawk twisted open his bottle and chugged about half the contents. “And I said we’ll wait. What you say doesn’t carry much weight right now, slave-trey.”

Carter took a healthy drink of his beer. “Your usual safe word, banana?”

“Okay.” trey gulped.

Tossing back the last of his beer, Hawk wiped his chin and chuckled. “How did you come up with a safe word like banana?”

Carter followed suit and emptied his bottle. “Remembering the night we shoved the banana up his ass and it broke off. It took hours for the whole thing to pass.” He grinned. “I had some good eating for a while there.”

“Thanks for sharing that story,” Trey muttered.

Hawk found the sub’s collar and latched it around his neck. “Oh, you don’t like to be embarrassed? Wow, well, neither do we. Strip, slave. I’ll get the paddle and the whip, and your Master can have first pick.”

Clothes were shed in a hurry and the slave was naked when Hawk returned with both instruments. “Carter, my friend, what’s your pleasure? Whip or paddle? You’re his Master, your ten strokes will be first.”

He fingered the riding crop. “This is nice.”

“A fine choice.” Hawk positioned trey with his hands against the nearest blank wall. He nudged the slave’s feet apart with his boot, smiling when he spotted a full-blown erection. “He’s excited, Carter. Let’s see you whip the excitement right out of him.”

“My pleasure.” He stood back and aimed the first blow at trey’s buttocks.