Faithless (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (107 page)

“Yes it is, Syn. Dexter and I had to be approved to train more dominants in our area. It is an honor to be called Master or Mistress. The posers at Restraint are just that, posers. When it was just Dexter and me, I couldn’t haze him into our group because we are cousins. When we initiated Ezra, the same applied. I just couldn’t touch my adopted son like that.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Ez says sarcastically. “I’m glad to know the morals only extend to one of your wards.” I roll my eyes at the obvious dig. Marc raised Cort as much as he raised Ez, yet he has Cort suck his dick.

“As I was saying,” Marc growls, glaring at his son. “Basically, we were jumped in. The six of us stood in a line while Olivia read off our rating. The most dominant was forced to assert that claim by fucking his fellow initiates. It was a privilege and a punishment. As I said, there were four men and two women… and no, I wasn’t the most dominant.”

“Holy fuck,” Dexter drawls.

“Yes, exactly… Holy fuck,” Marc hisses. “My friend was crowned most dominant. He isn’t a lover of men, and he is very particular about what women he beds. Lucky for him, the two women were his regular lovers. We stood by while he took them in turn. Now, I said this was a punishment as much as a privilege for a reason. If he were truly dominant, being with men wouldn’t be an issue. If he were truly dominant, his mind would override his body’s natural responses, particularly the sexual downtime.”

“You mean he had to do you all back-to-back, and if he couldn’t get it up, he wasn’t dominant enough to be called a master,” Cort says in disbelief.

“That is exactly what I am saying. By the time he was through with his lovers, he was sated. But he had three more people to go- all men. He didn’t want to touch our fellow brothers, but he would. It wasn’t necessary since they both walked out. They never became Masters, and they became a laughing stock of the lifestyle. Last I heard from them, they were having difficulty finding submissives.”

“Jesus,” Dexter hisses. “I don’t like where this is headed, Marc. I’ve seen the O tattoo on your hand. I know you are a Master since you trained me. Did he rape you,” Dex says in a strangled voice.

“No, not rape,” Marc hastily replies. “It wasn’t wanted, and he didn’t want to do it, either. But we had to prove we were dominant enough to become Masters. His lovers brought him back to life enough to go through with it… and I earned my right to be called Master.”

“Did it hurt?” Cort asks
, out of more than just curiosity. The thought of Marc and anal sex has him squirming in his seat.

“Yes,” Marc says in a way that suspiciously sounds like
yes, you fucking, moron. Of course it hurt!
“Dev’s a huge man, and I don’t mean just because he’s almost seven feet tall- he is very proportionate, and he tried to be gentle. But we wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.”

Me and the Ezes share a look- a look that screams
HOLY FUCK! Devlin did Marcus!

“Did
you cum?” pops out of my mouth before I can stop it. I receive more than one death glare for the disrespect. “I… I was just curious. It seems like if you came it wouldn’t have been as… ah… bad,” I stammer.

“It was worse,” Marc snarls. “It was emasculating and demoralizing. I’m supposed to be this powerful master who can control their minds and bodies enough to control other people’s minds and bodies as well. And here I was getting off when I didn’t want to. I just couldn’t stop it from happening. I thought for sure I’d failed because of it.”

“You can’t help it,” I mumble. “It’s your guy parts.”

“And you know this how?” Cort asks, surprise strong in his voice.

“No reason,” I grumble.

“OH!” Ez sings
, with a beatific smile on his face. “That explains the attitude adjustment. Good for him!”

“Good for who?” Marc and Dexter say at the same time, but Marc adds, “And what?”

I ignore them all- the inquiring looks, the endless questions- as I sit and blush like a sonofabitch. I know Grant is home. I can feel his presence upstairs. I have no doubt that he’s watching us on the security cameras. I’m biting my tongue because a silent Grant sure can text Wil faster than lightening. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if Wil was up there with Grant.

After ten minutes of my silence, Marc says, “I had to earn it- it’s now your turn.” The
warning is accompanied by an evil smirk that makes my blood run cold.

“The most dominant gets to fuck their way to Masterdom!” Marcus announces, and it takes everyth
ing in me not to slide from my chair and hide beneath the table. “Syn, you’re definitely the more dominant since it’s just you and Cort- I guess you get to fuck Cort.”

“NO!” Cort and I say simultaneously, but I add, “Never.”

“So you forfeit your position as Masters of Restraint?” Marcus says, with that evil smirk firmly in place on his handsome face.

“I believe that if I were to bow to your request, it would make me a pussy. So I’m going to say I’m
extremely dominant by refusing to do as my Master bids,” I directly challenge Marcus- eyes holding his gaze.

“Oh, Syn,” Marc heartily laughs, the sound running up and down my spine like a narcotic. “You’re
so precious. Nice try.”

“NO!” I loudly repeat. “No,” comes out quieter this time. “I can’t.”

“Why ever not?” Marc asks. His smile broadens, as if he is curious to see what I could possibly come up with now. I can’t believe the man who taught me how to drive is trying to get me to bang Cort. Knowing Marcus, he has some evil plan to heal us all or some shit. I don’t care what his plans are, I’m not doing Cort- almost four hundred times is four hundred times too many in my lifetime.

“My personal life is sep
arate from this lifestyle, and I expect you to respect that. The reason I refuse sex with my submissives at Restraint is that I am in a committed relationship- long term, as in forever. My private life is how I want it. I have a job that I love and thrive at, where I’m second in command. I love my partner, and together, we raise my son and our nephew. I won’t cheat on him, even for a title. I respect myself and him enough not to disrespect and shit all over our relationship. If that answer doesn’t scream dominance than I don’t know what does.”

“You have a child?” Marc says in disbelief. He eyes me, checking to see if I’m a liar.

“She’s telling you the truth,” Cort says, and it shocks the shit out of me. “Her son, Zane, is ten. She’s been with her guy since she was with Ezra and me. I can’t stand Faith most of the time, but you can’t do this to her, Marc. It’s not fair. I won’t let her do it, especially after… she’s been forced enough, Marc,” Cort says, tears evident in his voice.

I turn away, hiding my face. I sniffle and surreptitiously wipe my eyes. I thought Cort hated me, but his feelings for me are similar to my feelings for him- pained.

“You still love her,” Marc says, as if he was leading us to this moment in time- the lawyer coming out of him.

“Not like you’re insinuating,” Cort grumbles. “The betrayal wouldn’t hurt this badly if I didn’t.”

“Betrayal? Faith betraying Cortez? Faith having a partner and a child and a nephew? Faith having a child old enough that it was around the time she ran away…Why am I so in the dark? I see that the three of you are still close. None of you must trust me,” Marc accuses each one of us, staring us down. His voice is powerful, but I can see the hurt flash across his face.

“It’s personal, Marcus. I don’t know your shit, and you shouldn’t know mine,” I snarl, getting pissed off. “And if I am supposed to be a Master, then you are disrespecting me by treating me as if I am beneath you. We are equals, in life
, and at Restraint. I respect you because you know more than me, but don’t disrespect me because I’m a woman and you want to get your jollies off tonight. Just ask Cort to kneel, I’m sure he’ll suck you off real good!”

“Hmm…” Marcus says, more of a growl than speech. “I was going to relent, but your parting comment was a nasty one. I think I will have Dexter fuck you instead,” he maliciously purrs.

Dexter gets up from his chair so quickly that he is standing before the chair even tilts backwards. It hits the ground with a loud
crack
, causing us to flinch. We all stare, gape-mouthed, at Marcus.

“
And before any of you say anything, yes, I’m being spiteful. I don’t like being in the dark about the lives of people I care about. I care for you, Faith. I provided you a home after your father was incarcerated. The three of you were thick as thieves. And the last time I saw you was at the courthouse. I told you I’d be home for dinner. Instead, I was coming to comfort you about your father’s murder. But you disappeared before I got home, without a goodbye, I might add. I didn’t see you again until Ezra went missing. After he was found, I didn’t see you again until a few months ago. This screams of guilt, but guilt over what? Ironically, this all happened at the same time that Cort was pissed at Ezra and you. Yet Ezra and you aren’t mad at one another. I don’t give a fuck if you trust me or not, I’ll figure it out. But for tonight, I’m punishing the three of you for closing me out,” Marcus shouts in our faces from across the card table.

I rear back as if verbally slapped- the power and anger that radiates off of Marcus makes me wonder if Olivia lied about Devlin being more dominant. Maybe Marc’s initiation was the ultimate test- a test to see how he would react. Did he pass or fail by submitting to Devlin. I would’ve never submitted. I don’t understand bending, let alone kneeling. Faith Simpson would have bent over and taken it. Syn, she takes no shit from anyone, even her own Master- because she is her own Master.

“I’m not fucking Dexter,” I announce. “You submitted to Devlin, proving you weren’t stronger willed than him. I bet Olivia was testing you, and you failed miserably.”

Instead of being singed by an angry dragon, Marc turns his head to the side with his eyes sighting on me. He considers me for a moment- thinking.

“Hmm… I was very young at the time. Only nineteen. Perhaps you are correct,” Marcus drawls. “But I find it interesting that you picked up on that after five minutes, when it took me years to sort through. Syn… Syn… all full of secrets… what other secrets do you hide? How do you know Olivia?”

“I’m female and a dominant. I don’t have to know Olivia to tell you what I would’ve done in her position. I would’ve told my strongest that he wasn’t, just to see how he would react, and then I would
’ve taken my pet panther and had him test my strongest.” I shrug, hoping to cover up my fuckup. Sometimes my mouth spills before my brain can register the words and stop me from making a fool of myself.

“Interesting,” Marc purrs. “You speak of Olivia as if you are inside her mind.”

I can’t tell Marcus that I know how Olivia thinks because I’ve known her as long as I’ve known him- better even, since I’ve spent a lot of time with the woman. I can’t tell Marcus that I know how his Master thinks because her son thinks just like her. I’ve had a thirteen year learning curve into their warped minds.

“You called Devlin her pet panther. It is true, Devlin is still at her side, and panther is a very apt description. Now, Syn, I will ask again. How do you know Olivia?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Marc,” I grumble my denial, noticing that the Ezes are deathly still next to me. Dexter has retreated to the wall because Marcus looks like he’s ready to kill someone- me.

“The fuck you don’t!” He screams in my face. His breath scorches my cheeks and spittle speckles my skin. I sit still, patiently waiting for Marc to tire himself out. He’s not the biggest baddie I’ve dealt with. Years of Stanton screaming and nagging and bitching and lecturing has desensitized
me to men in the throes of a tantrum.

“Fine,” Marcus hisses, leaning over the table, putting us nose-to-nose. “But you won’t like the consequences.” As if possessed with a demon, Marc’s head whips around, facing Dexter. “Strip and you better be hard.”

“Marc?” Dexter unsurely asks with a shaky voice. 

My body goes on alert. I’m in a room filled with men, men I thought I could trust. Misplaced trust just put me in danger. We really never know the secret desires in the de
pths of our friends and family’s minds. This is why I don’t trust the strangers at Restraint. I’d never thought in my wildest imaginings that Marcus would hurt me.

“Get undressed,” Marc says. His tone is filled with exhaustion and disappointment.

“Marcus,” Ez finally speaks. “What are you up to? You have no right to harm Faith. I won’t allow it. You aren’t forcing her to do anything. Hell, Dexter doesn’t want this either.”

“I determine what we are doing- I am your Master!” Marcus screams. “As your Master, you will follow directions, because as you
r father, you’ve lied to me, gone behind my back, and closed me out. I figured out why Cort is pissed at you, Ezra. It took all of ten seconds.”

“I doubt you could ever figure out what is pissing Cortez off,” Ez says, blinking erratically- fighting in his mind. I hope it’s Master Ez that wins the battle of the will against Ezra. I thought Ez was more in control than this, I was wrong.

“Ez, even,” I breathe, “please.”

“I’m trying,” Ez whines, eyes flicking in my directions. “But it’s kinda hard with all this shit going down. Marc, you can’t know what’s making Cort mad, because he won’t even admit it to himself. So let’s calm down. Faith should go home now,” Ez coolly says.