The Sacrifice: Chapter 21

I wake the following day, and my ass is still on fire. I fell asleep on my stomach to help relieve the sting, but I woke up on my back. I also woke up alone. I don’t remember Tyson coming upstairs last night. After he spanked me like a child, I ran to the apartment and cried myself to sleep.

I was embarrassed, ashamed, and wet from what he did to me. I’m glad he didn’t make me remove my cum-covered thong and fishnets in his office to check.

But I learned a lesson. He can hand me over to another Lord. And I don’t want that. I’ve seen Lords over the years and know what some wives have been through. Heard my mother’s friends cry to her before because of what they were made to do. Tyson is a fucking bastard, but it could be worse.

Sitting up, I hiss in a breath at the stretch of skin from his belt across my ass and upper thighs. I manage to get off the bed and get dressed. He didn’t even let me finish my shift last night. Not like I could have. Nobody wants to be waited on by a crying woman who looks like a mess.

When I realize I’m alone in the apartment, I make my way to the elevator and down to the first floor. It opens, and I immediately hear voices. One being Tyson’s.

I step out and the dance floor comes into view. I see the back of Tyson standing by the main bar, dressed in a new pair of dark gray slacks and a black button-up. Two police officers stand in front of him. One guy has his hands on his belt. The other hangs onto the top of his shirt, gripping his collar.

“Lake?” the one with his hands on his shirt says when my eyes meet mine.

“Collin,” I say, smiling.

Tyson spins around at the sound of my voice, and the look on his face has my smile dropping.

“What the hell are you doing here, babe?” Collin asks, looking me up and down. The flirtatious smile on his face tells me he has no idea that I’m now a married woman.

Before I can answer, the other cop clears his throat. “Can we stay on track here?”

I walk over to stand next to Tyson and ask, “What’s going on?”

“Ma’am,” the one I don’t know speaks, holding out a picture to me. “Have you seen this woman?”

I take it in my hand and recognize her instantly. “I—”

“She has not.” Tyson answers for me, yanking it from my hand and handing it back to the cop. “I’ve already told you. The woman hasn’t been here.”

I look up at him, confused as to why he would lie. Maybe he hasn’t seen her here.

“Lake, is this true? You’ve never seen her?” Collin asks, his eyes are now hard on mine. As if he knows the truth.

I lick my lips nervously and nod once. “Yeah. I’ve never seen her.” The lie burns my mouth as much as Tyson’s belt stung my ass.

“I think—”

“My wife and I have answered your questions. You may leave now.” Tyson interrupts the other cop.

Collin’s eyes drop to my left hand, and they widen when they see my ring. I feel like Tyson said that on purpose. Once again, making it known that I’m his. Another pissing contest. Why can he do that, but I can’t? It’s a two-way street. I mean, he hasn’t openly flirted with other women in front of me, but he also didn’t deny fucking other women last night when I confronted him.

“Here’s my card if you hear anything.” The cop holds one out to Tyson, but he shoves his hands in the pockets of his dress slacks.

I take it. “Thank you, and we will.” Dropping my eyes to it, I avoid Collin’s stare. Instead, I watch their black shoes turn and hear Tyson lead them out the front exit. I don’t look up until I hear him locking the door.

He comes over to me, yanks the card from my hand, and rips it to pieces before shoving them into his pocket.

“Why did you lie to them?” I demand.

“Blackout doesn’t cooperate with cops. Never have, never will.”

So he did know she was here? “You made me lie.” I fist my hands.

He turns to face me. “You chose to lie.”

Like he gave me a choice. “I was about to tell them that I saw her here last night when you interrupted me. Not letting me.”

“I’ll look into it,” he says.

“You’re not a cop,” I snap.

“Speaking of cops. How did Collin know you?”

I cross my arms over my chest, refusing to answer. He smirks, at my silence and my thighs tighten in anticipation as to what he’s thinking.

Reaching down to his slacks, he slowly undoes his belt, and my heart starts to hammer in my chest. “I dated him.” I rush out, and his hands stop. No matter how turned on it made me last night, I can’t take another right now. It’s still too sensitive.

“Dated him?” he repeats slowly.

Nodding, I add, “Back when you were with Whitney.” He stiffens at the mention of my sister’s name, but he wanted to know.

Stepping into me, he reaches up, running his thumb over my lips and I hold my breath at the action. “What did you two do?” he asks, and I know exactly what he’s referring to.

He knows he was my first when it came to sex. But there are other things I could have done. He’s never asked about my past experiences until now. For some reason, he seems to care. “He kissed me,” I say softly.

“On the mouth?”

I nod.

“Anywhere else?” His thumb pulls down my bottom lip, and I breathe heavily.

“No,” I answer, my voice shaking.

He seems satisfied with that and turns, walking away.

“What happened to her?” I ask, wanting to know.

He stops, turns back to face me, and says, “She’s missing.” Then he gives me his back once again and walks behind the bar.

He’s lying. I can tell. The question is why?

TYSON

How did I not know that she and Collin dated? I mean, I never paid that much attention to her life when I was with Whitney, but I feel like I should have known this. All the research I did on her over the past three years should have told me they were together at some point. I needed to know what I was getting into with her. An ex-boyfriend never popped up.

There are two problems with this new information. One, I don’t like the fact that they have any kind of past. Two, I don’t like that he knows she’s here at Blackout.

I made it very clear that she belongs to me. But if he knows she works here, he could start appearing just to see her. And the fact that she’s barely dressed while working makes that thought worse.

“You are not allowed to speak to him,” I inform her as she walks past the bar.

Stopping, she turns to face me, hands on her hips, and she lets out a huff. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I’m not repeating myself.

“Jesus, Tyson. We didn’t fuck.” She rolls her eyes.

“I don’t give a fuck what you did and didn’t do with him.” Her cheeks flush at my words, even if they were a lie. If he had slept with her, he’d be dead. “He’s a cop. And I don’t want him trying to get any information from you.”

“Like what?”

“Lake,” I growl.

“You going to kill him?” She gives a rough laugh.

“If need be.”

Her laughter stops, and her lips thin. “Don’t be stupid, Tyson. You just said so yourself, he’s a cop.”

“I’ve killed more important men for less.” I shrug carelessly. Walking over to her, I reach out and run my hand through her bleach-blond hair. Her large blue eyes look up into mine at my confession. “We both took a vow that you belong to me and I to you. That means I will eliminate anyone who I think may be a threat to our marriage.”

“But you’re free to fuck whoever you want,” she snaps, referring to Bethany.

I still haven’t informed my wife that she’s the only woman I’ll be fucking. And I don’t plan to. I like her jealous. I don’t see how sleeping around on her proves anything. The point is that she belongs to me. Besides, her cunt, mouth, and ass are all I’m going to need. “Just stay the fuck away from him. And if he comes in here, you tell me. Understand?” I’m busy when the club is open. I don’t have time to sit and watch the cameras a hundred percent of the time. It’s never bothered me until now. Especially after what I saw last night between her and Bethany.

She glares at me for a long second but finally nods. “Understood.” Turning, she starts to walk off but pauses once more and faces me. “Why haven’t you asked me about the girl?”

“What’s there to ask?” I avoid her question.

“If I spoke to her? Who I saw her with?”

“None of that matters.”

“Of course not. If you’re not a Lord in this world, no one gives a fuck about you.” With that, she turns and stomps off to head back upstairs.

She’s avoided me most of the day. After she came down when the cops were here, she went upstairs and hid from me in our apartment. I’ve had too much to do to chase her down or to care whether she’s mad at me.

It’s now eleven and I just realized that she didn’t come into my office before her shift started. She’ll get punished for that. I highly doubt she forgot like I did. She’s just trying to prove a point. Well, I’ll prove my own.

I stand at the railing on the breezeway on the second floor, looking down over the club. My eyes are on my wife. It’s after midnight and we’re packed. I stepped out of my office for a breather. I see someone walk up out of the corner of my eye and look over to see it’s Ryat. He looks down to where I was looking and sees Lake laughing at a table with five men sitting at it.

Ryat pulls a sucker out of his mouth, leaning his forearms on the railing. “You let her wear that?”

“It’s her uniform,” I answer.

“Yeah.” He sucks on the sucker once more before pulling it free from his mouth. “I get why you’re doing it, but how are you doing it?”

I push off the railing and turn to face him.

He shrugs at my silence. “Even before I loved my wife, she was mine. And I don’t like anyone seeing what belongs to me.” He pulls his cell out of his pocket to reply to a text he just received, and I turn back to look down at my wife.

She’s bent over, her face in front of the guy’s face while he says something to her. I know the music is loud and she can’t hear what he wants to order, but it makes my fingers curl around the railing. I’m supposed to put her on display. That’s the point of what I’m doing. But Ryat is right. I don’t like how close he is to her. Or how when she pulls back and walks away, his eyes are on her ass while his friends smile, all of them knowing exactly what he’s thinking about.

I push off the railing and stomp off to my office. Ryat enters behind me.

“Why are you here?” I ask, picking up the remote to my cameras and placing them on the big screen to watch my wife.

He leans over and looks up at the TV hanging on the wall above his head. Once he sees what I’m watching, he straightens and smirks at me.

Dick.

“I was on my way home and thought I’d drop by.” He finally answers.

I pull my cell out of my pocket and send her a text.

Setting it on the desk, I watch her on the camera, seeing her cell light up on the counter next to the server station. She reads over my message and then places it back on the bar, picks up her tray, and walks over to the table where the guys are seated, ignoring me.

Okay, Lake. Let’s play the game your way.

“What are you doing out this late?” I ask him.

“Had to stop by the house of Lords,” he answers vaguely.

I nod, knowing that’s all I will get from him. Ryat and I have always been close since his freshman year, and I was a senior. But we’re not girls who share everything.

His cell rings, breaking the silence, and he answers. “Hello?” He nods to himself. “I just stopped by Blackout for a second. I’m about to leave and will be home soon. Need me to stop and get anything for you?” He listens as the person—I’m guessing his is wife—on the other end speaks. “Love you.” He hangs up and stands. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”