until the world ended.
Sappy asshole.
“Someone looks fucking pleased with himself.” Jasper slapped him on the shoulder as he dropped down beside him. “Has the curse of the blue balls finally abandoned you to plague some other poor sucker?”
“Sure, I sent it your way, buddy. About time you suffered the indignity of blue balls, what with all the subbies vying for your attention.” Braun gestured to the ever-present Anarchy hovering to their left, more than a dozen feet away. It was clear to anyone with a brain cell in his head that the little subbie's focus had laser-sharp intensity, and all of it was for Jasper. “One in particular.”
The sadist glanced toward the sub, eyes brightening with the primal hunger so many women fawned over...until they realized the true extent of his bestial nature. “We’re not talking about my sex life, Braun, but just so we are perfectly clear, I am not getting involved with that tasty morsel. So, back to you and the delightful Boadicea. The deed is done?”
Braun's gaze swept the room, landing on his own sub at the bar. Tonight was a good night, not the frantic heave of Friday and Saturday nights, but a gathering of players small enough to make the evening cozy yet large enough to appease his business sense. “She’s mine, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Jasper almost purred. “Excellent. Perhaps she’ll find a modicum of peace with a strong hand guiding her. She’ll make you work for everything she gives you, but you’ve never backed down from a challenge that I can remember.”
“I told her I love her.”
“You did what now?”
Braun lifted his shoulder. “It’s the truth. It doesn’t scare me, and I figure she should get used to hearing me say it. Might seem too soon, but I’m sunk, J. Pretty damn sure her initials are carved into my heart. I see a future with her and, fuck, I’d kill to have it. To have her in my life, period.”
“As in subbie?”
“As in wife.” His gaze followed her as she accepted a glass from Liam, blushed furiously at something the Master said, then made her way tentatively toward the seating pit. She still carried herself with her innate dancer’s grace, he noted with a proud smirk, but he could see from here how her body protested the foreign new use of her muscles. “As in forever.”
“By God, you work fucking fast,” Jasper breathed. “Are you sure the curse hasn’t just twisted your perception of easy access pussy into something momentarily more permanent?”
“I should belt you for that,” Braun responded casually, fisting his hand in warning. “I know my one when she falls into my lap, brother. Wouldn’t you?”
Jasper glared at his shadow, still lurking several feet away. “Nope. Because the one isn’t always the right one. For either person involved. Sometimes it’s better not to get involved with them at all because you just know someone will end up buried head-first in a five-pint tub of ice cream and drowning in sad fucking romance movies for a week or six.”
“Wow,” Braun said, impressed. “That’s deep. You bury yourself in ice cream often, J? You’ve never asked me around for one of these pity parties—have you been holding out on me?”
“Fuck you.” Jasper jammed his elbow into Braun’s ribs, then smiled at the vision descending the steps into the pit. “If she’s really who you want, I’ll wish you all the best. Could do a helluva lot worse.”
The mellow lighting throughout the area dimmed in comparison to the woman walking toward him in a pair of red boy shorts and a black tank top. Her practice clothes for dance workouts, and the only thing they’d been able to rustle up from her car. She held the glass in her hands like a bomb, afraid jostling it might make the damn thing blow up.
“She’s really who I want,” Braun murmured, entranced by her. His hand slipped around her waist when she stood before him, offering his drink without a word. He took it, set it on the wooden rim of the pit, then pulled her onto his lap. “Do you want to scene tonight, little one, or would you rather just have a quiet evening sitting here for a while?”
Her head cocked, her eyes confused. “I get a choice?”
“Of course, you do. It’s been an...athletic afternoon for us both. We can just stay here, talk to the local reprobates,” he said in a mock whisper with an eye roll toward Jasper, “and relax for a