The key was in giving her everything Hammer hadn’t.
Liam sighed. “All right, then. I won’t be keeping you here against your will. I’ll take you back. Understand that you’ll stay by my side. And you will follow my rules. If you’re so bloody worried about Hammer, I suggest you not let him drag you off to his bed again.” He allowed the implied threat to hang for a long moment. “I won’t let him be driving a wedge between us. Is that understood?”
“Yes.”
Time to reinforce his role in her life. “Yes, what?”
“Yes, Sir. Thank you.”
Raine sat up on her knees and lifted her face to his. Liam bent to her. Christ, she smelled good. Even though he’d just fucked her, he wanted her again.
He let a heartbeat pass. Still, she didn’t open her eyes. Finally, he palmed her neck and seized her mouth for a quick, desperate kiss. It wasn’t enough, but all he could take for now or he’d be laying her down on the tile floor and sliding into her again.
“Don’t be forgetting it.” He stared at her, silently demanding acknowledgment.
She nodded. “I won’t, Sir.”
“After your shower, get dressed. I’ve arranged a few clothes for you. They’re in the closet. I’ve a couple of calls to make, then we’ll be going. Be ready in half an hour.”
She breathed a sigh of relief and stared at him with gratitude that ripped him open. She was happy, all right—to go see her other lover. Liam shoved down his boiling blood and exited the shower.
Then he sat on the side of the bed with a curse, elbows on his knees, and let his head drop. How the fuck had all this come crashing perilously close to the end so quickly? He’s wasn’t thick ordinarily, but this…connection with Raine had felt so real, so much more than even his link with Gwyneth during their marriage.
He rubbed a big hand across his forehead, dug his finger and thumb into his eyes. Fuck if he knew what would happen once they reached Shadows, but he’d be damned if he’d just let Raine go. If Hammer wanted her back…well, Liam wasn’t above playing dirty.
Sunlight burned Hammer’s eyes, and he squinted. What felt like a full brass band thundered in his head. Fucking hangover. All he’d learned was that he couldn’t drink Raine away.
Rolling out of bed with a groan, he slumped into the shower, hoping the hot water might assuage his throbbing head. Even his eyes pulsed in time with his heartbeat, like they were going to pop from their sockets.
Bits and pieces of the night before filtered through his brain, and he vaguely remembered Beck playing armchair psychologist. And he’d spilled his guts like a fucking pussy.
“Great!” he barked as embarrassment clawed up his spine.
Washing quickly, he dried his aching body, then brushed the fuzzy residue of Patrón from his mouth. He groaned as he pulled on clothes, but at least he could find some aspirin and coffee now, in that order.
As he stood in the kitchen, Raine’s kitchen, that familiar anxiety he’d been unable to contain grabbed him by the balls.
Willing the coffee to brew faster, he watched the drip-drip-drip of the little device. Before today, he’d only made coffee for himself once in the last six years, when Raine had fallen ill with the flu. He’d sat by her bed all night, watching her sleep fitfully, and helped her to the bathroom on cue. To keep himself awake, he’d fixed a pot of coffee, then took the steaming cup back to her room to watch over her some more.
But that was then…and now she was gone.
After downing plenty of pain reliever and pouring a hefty mug of coffee, he stepped into the deserted dungeon. All the members were long gone, and the cavernous room seemed cold and dead… much like his soul.
Weaving his way through the various stations, he wasn’t surprised when he again found himself staring at the spanking bench on which he’d witnessed Raine’s punishment. Had that just been two long, miserable days ago? Yeah, but it seemed like two lifetimes ago to Hammer.
Images of Raine cuffed to the bench punched him in the gut. Like the damned pervert he was, his cock jerked to life. Even as he’d wanted to kill Liam for claiming his Raine and stealing her out from under him, he’d been unable to deny how phenomenally gorgeous she’d looked bound and submissive and shattering. She’d looked even more beautiful in his bed, taking his cock.
But even if he didn’t intend to ever touch her again, he refused to sit back idly and let Liam get away with stealing Raine. He would search the ends of the fucking earth until he found her, starting with Liam’s house in New York. He was due to take his annual trip there anyway…and he didn’t want to think about that task at all.