Page 64 of Our Tricks

We all jumped at the sound of the front door being opened, but when we saw Cam walking in with a sleeping Dax in his arms, we relaxed. Thank fuck they were home safe and sound. Without a word, he took her right upstairs with all of us hot on his heels. He stripped her out of my jacket but left her in that sexy mini-dress he’d gotten for her. When I saw the marks covering her body, I snarled, grabbed Cam by the throat, and slammed him against the wall.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” I demanded. “She left without a mark on her, and now she’s covered in welts and scratches, you sick son of a bitch.”

Cam grabbed my wrist, and the next thing I knew, I was the one being slammed into the wall with my arm now twisted up behind me. “You’ll keep your voice down, take a deep breath, and come downstairs to talk to me about this like an adult. I’m sure you can remember how to act like one if you dig down deep enough.”

I knew Cam wasn’t someone to fuck with. He might come across all easy-going, happy to do Dax’s bidding, but it was moments like these I remembered he was as dangerous as the rest of us. Slowly, he released me and stepped back, watching the others wearily as he let his gaze linger on our woman before heading back downstairs.

He didn’t stop until he was in the kitchenette area as far away from the stairs as possible. “If any of you would like to ask me questions that don’t involve trying to murder me or accusing me of abusing my wife, then be my guest.”

Biting my tongue, I waited to see if anyone else was going to speak up on the matter. I wasn’t at all surprised that it was Void. How he hadn’t killed Cam yet after seeing the state she was in, I didn’t know.

“Did you respect her boundaries and ask for consent?” Void questioned.

My mouth fell open. “That’s what you want to fucking ask him? Have you gone fucking mad?”

Void shifted so he was facing me. “Mad, no. The difference is I understand that what he did wasn’t abuse or violence inflicted upon our wife. What those two did was enter into an agreement of two consenting adults who laid out the rules and respected them. Nothing was done to Dax she didn’t allow or have the ability to stop at any time.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Eagle shot me a look that told me to shut the fuck up. Gritting my teeth together, I did, giving the others a chance to say their peace.

“Is this something you plan on bringing into the mix regularly?” Wes asked. “Actually, I suppose my real question is are you going to be doing it at home with all of us around?”

Cam seemed to contemplate that question. “For me, personally, I believe in respecting everyone’s boundaries. Dax made it clear to me that none of you would be comfortable with my unconventional way of enjoying sex. No, this isn’t something I’m looking to include in our everyday sex life, but to be fair, Wes, you seem to rather enjoy erotic asphyxiation play. In no way am I pointing fingers. I’m just trying to demonstrate that not all situations are as involved as what we did tonight.”

“You’re right. A few of us have certain kinks we’ve included in our sexual encounters together and never checked with each other. Tonight you brought Dax to an established play club where it was safe for you to do what you wanted. While I’d prefer not to have a dungeon or something like it put in the house, I’m not the only one who lives there,” Wes pointed out.

Cognac shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the refrigerator. “Look, you know loba isn’t going to do something she doesn’t want to. I also know Cam would cut off his own dick if he thought he really hurt her. While I have my own preferences to spice things up when I want to, I also don’t intend on forcing anyone else to be a part of it. So if Cam wants to have a love nest where they go off and enjoy themselves, it’s fine with me. All I want is for her to be safe, happy, and fucking boneless like she is now. I haven’t seen her that relaxed in a long fucking time.”

“Why am I the only one who’s having a hard time with this?” I asked, throwing my hands in the air with my frustration.

Cam contemplated me for a moment. “What bothers you more? The fact that I did that to her or that she let me?”

That had me balking.

“I won’t rush you on that answer because I really think you need to process that question,” Cam said, squeezing my arm gently. “Whenever you have an answer, tell me, but I’ll warn you right now that answer will tell me more about you. How we perceive abuse, violence, and harm to those we love is a direct connection to our personal history.”

Could that be true? Did I view what they’d done through a skewed way of thinking? Is that why I was the only one who was upset about this whole thing? Cam was right, I wouldn’t have an answer for him right away. It was going to take me some time.

“Look, I’m sorry I lashed out like that. It’s obvious to me I overreacted, and that’s my bad, but what I’d really like to do now is cuddle up with our wife and get some sleep. While you guys were gone, we did some deep thinking and adding this to it, I’m just kinda done for the night,” I said to Cam then looked at the others.

“I’ll never be upset for you protecting her, just try to remember next time that I’m not the enemy,” Cam pointed out then gave me a clap on the back and a shove forward. “Go! You know she secretly hates sleeping alone now that she’s gotten used to all of us being there.”

With a salute and a smirk, I jogged up the stairs, yanked off my shirt, and crawled in behind Dax. As soon as I put my arm around her middle, she snuggled into me and let out a soft sigh. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, I nuzzled into her hair and whispered in her ear, “I love you, my little spitfire.”

A smile tugged at her mouth, and she rolled to turn into my chest, her hand on my heart. Fuck, if I wasn’t at this woman’s mercy even as she slept.

Slowly, I drifted off, mulling over Cam’s question as I held the most important thing to me in my arms.

Chapter 23

Dax

Holy fuck, did my body ache when I attempted to roll over the next morning and couldn’t. I found myself wedged between Picasso and Cognac with Eagle wrapped around my leg, using my thighs as his pillow. When I moved, he growled and nuzzled his stubbly face into my skin.

When the fuck did these men get so adorable?

I reached down and brushed a hand through his hair. This seemed to wake him up, and he cracked an eye open to look up at me. “No,” he grumbled, then buried his head on my thigh.

“Eagle, I’ve got to pee,” I said in a soft voice, trying not to wake the other two.