Out of the Ashes (The Game 5)

About a hundred feet away from the estate was a large carport, where I spotted Kingsley’s old truck. I parked next to him and did my best to shake off some of the nerves. Deep breaths. At any moment, I could stop if I didn’t like what was happening. I recalled Tate mentioning once that Kingsley believed it was better to safeword too often than not enough.

I checked my watch. Five minutes to spare.

They served alcohol in there, didn’t they? Tate had spoken fondly of cheap cocktails.

Or perhaps the bar wasn’t open on weeknights. As I left my car behind, I counted five vehicles in the carport. Hardly what one might call a club night. I let out a breath and gripped my overnight bag, and I crossed the lawn toward the estate. In the poor lighting, I didn’t see a pathway… Oh, it was over there. Well, it was too late.

I eyed the big corner porch by the front door, registering a seating area and—someone moved. A man rose from the porch steps, dressed in nothing but a pair of jeans, and I knew exactly who it was. His face was shadowed, but I knew that body. He ran a hand through his hair, and I remembered that too. Good Lord, he was so attractive that I almost lost my footing.

He was smoking a cigarette. How was that sexy?

All of a sudden, I wasn’t as happy about my physique as I had been last night. Kingsley was the perfect combination of solid and ripped. Broad shoulders and defined biceps—even his height turned me on. I wasn’t precisely short at six-one, but he was taller.

He put out his cigarette in an ashtray at the bottom of the steps, and it was around the same time I noticed the pillory standing off to the side on the lawn. An actual pillory! I wasn’t sure I wanted to know why it was there or how anyone could be remotely aroused by such a contraption. Imagine being restrained there, possibly for other people to ridicule and…

Shit.

I cleared my throat, officially within the distance where it was appropriate to greet him. I just didn’t know what to say.

Kingsley knew. “Right on time.”

His voice—I craved it. It was as rich and alluring as it was cutting and commanding.

He stood on the first step and appraised me silently, a faint smirk tugging on his lips. Lips that I’d felt against my own about a week ago.

“Let me get a proper look at you.” He ascended the steps, and I followed obediently. He had a big tattoo on his right shoulder blade. Two swallows met in front of a rusty-looking anchor, and the shadow of a warship lurked in the background.

He took my breath away.

Under the porch light, he turned around to face me again, and I just couldn’t process how stunning he was. His hair—not to mention his dusting of chest hair—revealed a tint of dark copper.

I wanted to reach out and—

“Nervous?”

Right. Stay in the moment. “Very,” I admitted. “But I like not knowing.”

That made him chuckle for some reason. “I’ve heard that before.” He took a step closer to me, and I sucked in a breath. “How are you with public nudity? Among kinksters.”

Oh, that was… “Fine.” Yes. I didn’t mind being naked, say, out here in the nothingness.

“And getting sexual with other men?” He took another step, and I had to repeat what he’d just said to myself. Other men? Was he talking about Tate? “If I were to order you to suck off a complete stranger—here—would that work for you? Can I bend you over and tell others it’s okay to finger-fuck you?”

“Fuck.” The word gusted out of me as my mind collapsed. Were those options? Could that happen? My God, what had he planned? “Y-yes.” Not only did I blush like a child, I stuttered like a fool too. Evidently.

Kingsley’s eyes glinted with dark humor. “I’m gonna need more than that, Franklin.”

Franklin… It was the first time I’d heard him utter my name, and now I couldn’t concentrate.

“Bury me in bodies,” I replied, reluctantly tearing my gaze from his lips. “As long as—” Hell. I probably couldn’t make any demands.

He lifted a brow. “Speak.”

Fuck, fuck. “Well…I-I want you,” I confessed. “Throw me to the wolves, as long as you’re one of them. If that’s okay? If it’s okay with Tate?”

A slow smile tugged at his mouth, and he slipped a hand to my lower back and hauled me to his body.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight tonight,” he murmured huskily. Heaven, I was going to die here. My body roared with desperation, and my heart pounded for all it was worth. “It’s your first kink experience. I’m not throwing you to anyone. But I might let the wolves inspect you. Touch you. Play with you a little. Then you can decide for yourself if you wanna become their next meal.”