When Liam O’Grady released Paige Hardy from their torrid kiss, she was breathless. Liam smiled. He liked to think that he was in control all the time.
*
Liam O’Grady had come up the hard way. He had climbed to the top of his ladder when it came to being a street fighter, then turned to underground fighting, which was lucrative but he had no intention of making it a full-time career. No, he did not want to end up with Parkinsons or some such illness, he thought dismissively.
Liam O’Grady had a plan. He needed to climb up in life, and make money. That was something he had desired all through his childhood, when he was growing up, seeing his father evolve into a small-time mob leader.
But Liam wanted more.
And he had found a way to get it too.
*
His charm, and his sexual magnetism meant that women fell for him.
And he had chosen Paige Hardy, along with her rich and powerful father, Brett Hardy, to be part of his ascent.
Brett Hardy was a political player and close to the Governor of the state. People respected him and regarded him as a Kingmaker, although he never stood for elections. No, Brett Hardy was a behind-the-scenes man.
Just the kind of man Liam O’Grady wanted on his side.
*
He knew that marrying Brett’s only daughter Paige, would put him in the big league. In politics…maybe he could become a Senator too in the future, as Brett had recently hinted.
The s*x between him and Paige was nothing off the charts, it barely kept him awake, he admitted once to Finn, who was his conscience keeper.
But, he needed her to keep climbing up in life. To become richer, and more powerful by the time he was sixty, he told his grim-faced brother.
Finn was a lot more matter-of-fact.
He loved kink. But he did not care for women as such. He did not seek to become something more.
He was content to be Liam’s shadow, faithful and loyal and for that, Liam thanked his stars.
*
Now he turned to see his brother glowering at him. There was no sign of the delectable little Ms Cruz.
“Where’s she?” he asked, feeling slightly affronted.
Finn scowled.
“I sent her away.” Naturally, his tone suggested.
Paige, breathless and a mess, looked about, her perfectly coiffured hair askew, her lipstick smudged.
“Why are you asking about the little scullery maid sort, Laim?’ she snapped, annoyed.
He shrugged and pulled her to his body and she murmured, happily.
*
Later, as Liam stood in his bedroom, changing into a tuxedo, for there was some gala dinner at Hardy’s place, Finn entered. He looked annoyed and Liam sighed.
“What?” he growled. They knew each other so well, it was sometimes possible to communicate without words.
“That girl, the new one,” Finn began.
“Our new pet?” asked Liam, smiled in anticipation. Finn sighed as he threw himself on a couch and watched his brother moodily.
*
Liam’s ability to compartmentalize amazed him. He had said years ago, that the women they married would not all be agreeable to be shared. And someone like Paige would only be concerned about appearances in public, after a few years of marriage.
Paige’s father had a mistress tucked away in LA, who he spent time with for most of the month. And her mother was a debutante of yore, now a wasted beauty, and a closet alcoholic.
Paige’s parents had married for money; at least, her father had latched onto the heiress that Paige’s mother had been. But once he had wed her and Paige was born, Paige’s beloved Daddy began to keep mistresses.
He was discreet but the repeated infidelities made Paige’s mother take to drink.
Because divorce, as Paige had told him confidently, was absolutely out in their family so they continued to remain wedded, putting up a united front to the world. But because of his sordid personal life, and the fact that he had a cupboard of skeletons regarding his bedroom antics, Brett Hardy kept away from mainstream politics. But he was rich and powerful and a name to reckon with, a kingmaker of sorts.
To the public, the Hardys remained devout Christians, a loving couple in the eyes of society and it would be disastrous for Brett if they split up.
So Mummy and Daddy kept up the pretence, as Paige put it very frankly.
*
This was why Liam had suggested diabolically, that Finn and he could continue keeping a pet, while carrying on with their everyday fabrication of leading a normal life to the outside world.
It had not bothered Finn much; marriage was not on his mind although Paige had been pushing a number of equally empty-headed friends at Finn.
Finn was content to keep a woman as a Pet. He did not particularly wish to get married and kinky s*x was quite enough for him, thank you. And watching Liam take a woman, and take the same woman after that; that was a great feeling for him.
*
But he was not too sure about how Paige Hardy would react to the arrangement. If she ever found out, how would Liam bluff his way out?
Because contrary to what Liam thought, Paige was selfish and spiteful, a side that Liam seemed to be blissfully unaware of.
Finn had once heard her berate a woman who worked for her, in such a terrible way, that the woman had left in tears.
*
Somehow, this afternoon, when he had seen the look of shock on Bianca Cruz’s face, he suddenly saw himself and Liam through her lenses. And it was not a good picture.
He felt vaguely ashamed of himself. What he was planning to do to her was downright cruel; she was desperate and Liam and he were using this to force her to give up her virginity.
To use her tempting body to satisfy their own bestial urges. And send her packing after a year was out.
Cast her out to the cruelties of fate, in short.
*
Right now, she was too upset to think clearly about it; but in a month or two, she would have time to think…and she was not like the other women they had shared, socialites and actresses who had lost their V-card, a long time ago.
A girl who was prepared to sacrifice everything dear to herself for her family; now that was something that made him respect her manifold. Her strength, her resourcefulness.
Beautiful little Bianca Cruz had approached them, desperate to save her family. Most women he knew would have wept and become desperate. But not this young nineteen-year-old.
She had walked up to their office in the hope that they would help her. Her fury last evening when she saw the contract, had been an indication of her character. And the fact that this morning, she had been prepared to agree to their terms showed how she had been forced, against her will, to agree…
He admired her strength.
*
And he suspected that she was also intelligent. Not like the many brainless idiot women had taken to bed over the years.
*
No, Bianca Cruz had an innocence, a freshness about her. What would she be like after a year of being used by the two of them?
Jaded? Cynical?
Readying to be passed on to another man and to be used as a s*x object?
*
Both of them were hardcore Doms.
Liam had strong rules about his pets; no other man was welcome to use his sub while they were bound to him and Finn.
Somehow, Finn St Just did not think that Bianca Cruz was fully aware of the gravity of what she was signing up for.
And he felt a little sorry for her; a sensation that was foreign to him.
She seemed to be more like a little rabbit diving into the first burrow it saw, without stopping to understand the consequences of choosing the wrong burrow…
*
She had looked so young, so shocked and…so appealing that he had wanted to pull her into his arms and tear her away from the very public display of lust by Liam and Paige.
*
Liam turned to his half-brother, amusement playing at the corner of his handsome mouth.
“Come on, Saint. Spit it out,” he growled and Finn grunted.
“About Paige…I’m thinking…would she be okay to have us…keep a pet… share a pet…when she gets to know, that is?”
Liam stopped. He had been fastening his tux and his eyes were cold and hard as he met Finn’s in the mirror.
“She will obey me. By then, I shall make sure she has a brood of kids and she can take a lover, provided it is discreet.”
Finn sighed.
Sometimes, he thought, he wondered if he actually knew Liam O’Grady.