Out of the Ashes (The Game 5)

I remembered that about Franklin.

“And it gave me a… I don’t know. A dose of boldness,” he said. “I thought back on the times you and I negotiated a scene with a sub and how you assessed a potential play partner, and I felt myself weirdly connected to you in that moment. Like, this is what Lee feels. This is how Lee studies a submissive guy.”

The flicker of hope grew stronger within me. I had to pull back a few inches, because I wanted to lean in and hear more. I was intrigued. I was…fucking torturing myself, but what if. After my own bizarre experience with Franklin Townsend, I had more insight.

“There was a brief moment,” Tate repeated. “I felt something for a hot second, and then it went away again.”

Perhaps a hot second was all I needed to push the envelope.

“Please don’t hate me,” Tate whispered pleadingly.

I frowned in confusion. “Why the hell would I hate you?” I shook my head and figured it was best to just spit it out. “I asked because what if Franklin became that steady partner?”

His eyes bugged out. “Are you fucking crazy?”

No, I was perfectly sane. “Simmer down, pet.”

I was going to push. Hard. A sick desire to test our limits flooded me, and it was all I wanted. I wanted to prove to Tate we could do it. I wanted to show him we could have everything. Most of all, I had to show him that we couldn’t set limits because of insecurities.

With me, he didn’t have to be scared.

“Then tell me you’re joking,” he said irritably. “That’s not funny.”

“It wasn’t a joke,” I replied. I wasn’t gonna let his emotions get me heated. I had to keep my cool here. “I have a different question now. Have you been with anyone since we broke up?”

“I—” He shut his mouth and stared at me in disbelief. “That’s what you wanna discuss now? I haven’t begun to process what you just—”

“Answer my question, Tate.”

He stared at me some more, thrown off and uncomfortable, not to mention angry. Tate was angry. But I was on a mission, and something was going on with me. I felt a shift deep within. I felt an urge demanding answers, because Tate’s reactions and his jealousy set off an internal alarm.

I was getting closer to figuring things out.

I’d experienced a mild case of this before, with an ex, when I was stationed in Florida.

His jaw ticked with tension as he tried to calm down. “I joined Macklin’s last orgy and spent maybe ten minutes with him and Cam before Greer noticed I wasn’t feeling all right and hauled me out of there.”

This time when jealousy flared up, I held on to it. It burned like acid to picture them together, Tate and Macklin—another fucking switch. Cam was too sweet to pose a threat. Tate liked his bottoms masochistic and a little defiant.

Looked like I owed Greer more than one favor, though, because that was no way for Tate to feel better, by jumping into a group-sex scene.

“Did you fuck any of them?” I tilted my head and cupped his cheek. I didn’t want him averting his gaze even a second for this.

He shook his head quickly.

“Did Mack fuck you?” I ghosted the pad of my thumb over his bottom lip.

“What’re you doing?” he whispered. “We should be talking about how to get closer to each other, not what we’ve done with—”

“I asked you a question. It’s the second time you’ve tried to deflect. Is that how you wanna behave with your Master?”

Heat bled onto his cheeks, and it was fucking intoxicating to watch. I knew it was a bad time to mess with his head, but if he wasn’t willing to listen when I explained, then maybe I had to demonstrate.

“I made out with Cam, and Macklin gave me head,” he confessed.

I drew a deep breath through my nose as possessiveness crashed into me. Jesus Christ, I should’ve considered this before. Some of the best play Tate and I had experienced had been when we turned primal. And if one thing triggered that response in me, it was jealousy.

It just had to be jealousy under confined circumstances.

“Now you can ask me the same question.” I moved my hand to his throat. I didn’t apply any pressure; I merely let him know that I could. And I would, if he tried to break free. “Ask me if I was with anyone when we weren’t together.”

I felt his Adam’s apple move with a hard swallow.

“I don’t think I wanna know.” His eyes welled up.

“I think you’re lying to yourself, baby,” I murmured. “I think you’re terrified of your own jealousy because it can mean something more. But we didn’t have vows to fall back on before. We do now. We’re going to spend the rest of our lives together. I won’t let you leave me—ever. I own every inch of you.”