“Oh, this is good. She submitted? Willingly? Knowing you were topping her?”
Logan wished Hunter wasn’t enjoying the speculation quite so much. “We were getting there, but I lost my head. Came at her too hard and fast. I need to downshift and regroup before I approach her again.”
“Yeah, you’ll have to hurdle Thorpe. Once you do, then you absolutely have to tell Tara why you left her years ago, if you’re going to earn her trust.”
Again, Hunter was right, but even that wasn’t simple. First, Logan could count on Thorpe to be a real hard-ass about enforcing the club’s rules.
Even if Logan found a way around that, then came the hard part: explaining the reason for their painful breakup to Tara. He refused to do it at Dominion. No way was he sharing something so personal with Thorpe. Training? Fine. Actual feelings? No.
And Logan had no doubt that revealing the truth about their past to Tara was going to get sticky. She was no longer a pliant young girl who would listen to his explanation because he asked her to. She’d definitely grown more spine. Now, he might be able to top her into giving him a blow job, but not forgiveness. As much as he’d love the first, it was the latter he’d do anything to have. If he pushed her, she might hate him more.
Logan grimaced. “I’ve been thinking about that. I doubt she cares now why I left her. Even if I could make her listen, would she believe me? If I hadn’t been through it, a killer threatening her would sound far-fetched. Tara might want me, but she doesn’t trust me for an instant. I’m not sure how to work past that. Unlike you, I’m not devious enough to marry a drunk girl.”
“Hey, it was Kata’s idea.”
“And you didn’t encourage that at all, huh?”
Hunter laughed. “Maybe a little, but it worked out. Speaking of which, my wife is on her way home, so if there’s anything else, make it quick.”
“What? Are you going to be waiting naked?”
“Good idea, bro.”
“Sick f**k. You’ll scare the poor girl.”
“Nah. Kata is made of stern stuff.”
“She has to be if she’s going to stay married to you.”
“Funny.” Hunter sighed. “Seriously, I know you can’t force it down her throat, but you’ve got to find some way to tell Tara why you broke it off with her in high school.”
Yeah. It would go over better once he’d reconnected his bond with her, established some trust. Even then, would she believe him? Damn it. If he was in her shoes, he probably wouldn’t. A mysterious stranger threatening a high school girl? It made way more sense that he’d just wanted to screw other girls. But maybe if he could earn Tara’s trust, he could find some way to make her believe him. Right now, she was too angry to hear any postmortem of their high school drama. And damn it, Logan wanted Tara to want to hear the truth.
“When the time is right, I will,” Logan murmured.
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.” He hung up and prowled into the bedroom, tossing his phone on the bed. He rifled through his paperwork. Dominion’s rules would be among them.
Forty-six minutes later Logan found exactly the loophole he needed. Tucking the papers in his back pocket, he sprinted out his door, locking it behind him. Rush hour traffic would be thick now, and he had to reach Dominion before Thorpe left for the day because he intended to f**king settle this now.
Club Dominion—Thursday evening
In less than eight minutes, Logan climbed off his motorcycle in Dominion’s parking lot and slammed through the front door, past Thorpe’s usual bouncers and the crew setting up for the night. Axel was preparing for a demonstration with a single tail whip. Jason was checking the club’s public playroom. Logan was supposed to be helping, but first, he and Thorpe were going to have it out.
Logan stalked down the hall, his boots striking the concrete floors, the pendant lights above providing one soft pool of light after another on the otherwise unrelenting gray. When he reached Thorpe’s door, he entered without knocking.
The club’s owner looked up, then glared. “Whatever you have to say, I don’t want to hear it. Agent Jacobs warned me that she couldn’t work with you. You got her naked and lost all control. There was no training happening there. I don’t know what the f**k your problem is, but it’s not mine or hers. Get out.”
Logan slapped his copy of the club’s rules on Thorpe’s desk. “Rule twenty-one dot three dot five. I’m invoking it.”
“Prior claim?” Thorpe wouldn’t have been more surprised if he’d said he was the freaking Easter Bunny. “Because you f**ked this girl in the past.”
“Yes.”
Thorpe slanted him a long, considering look. “If I hadn’t heard her say so during your session, I’d think you were full of shit, given how many women you’ve refused to share your sheets with.”
Logan forced down his impatience and leaned over the desk. “If you heard everything she said, then you heard that I have the ultimate prior claim: her virginity.”