“I came down here to make sure you don’t ruin your father’s career.” Slater’s lips thinned with distaste as he looked the young man over. Jack suddenly wondered if everyone treated Lucas this way.
For some reason, Lucas reminded him of Sam. Jack sat back down, choosing, for the moment, to back off and observe. Maybe Julian was right and there was more to all of this than simple brattiness and greed. He took in the arrogant set of Lucas’s eyes. It didn’t match the slump of his shoulders. His feet were close together, while his arms were crossed. He was protecting himself. It was almost as though Lucas wanted to fall into himself. Yet, he was standing here in a group of very authoritative men, trying to blackmail them. It was an interesting quandary.
“If he’s so concerned about his political future, then he should have paid me off,” Lucas said. Jack heard a lot of bravado behind the statement, but a surprising lack of will.
“Your father isn’t a fool.” Slater nearly spat while he spoke. He got into Lucas’s space. “He knows you’ll never stop asking him for money. Hasn’t he paid enough?”
Lucas’s lip curled up, but there was nothing humorous about his expression. “I give him all the free publicity he can handle.”
“Yes, the recent articles on your various drug addictions and close calls with the law did wonders for his chances in the primaries,” Slater shot back.
“Well, he had my sister to help. Didn’t she just graduate from Harvard?”
“With her Ph.D. in law. She’ll have a judgeship in no time. Your brother is already a state senator. They make your mother and father very proud. They’re assets. What’s wrong with you? You’ve had every advantage, and yet all you seem capable of is doing drugs and having perverse sex. There’s a rumor out there that you’re gay.”
“I’m not gay,” Lucas protested with a sneer. “Of course, I’m not straight, either.”
Slater rolled his eyes. “I came here because I thought you needed a chaperone. You should never be allowed in this club. It isn’t proper for anyone. Places like this shouldn’t exist if you ask me. It could truly hurt your family if you were caught here.”
“Should I pull the Senator’s membership then?” Julian’s aristocratic features were blank. Jack knew Slater was really pissing him off.
Jack grinned, somewhat amused. “Did he join before or after we had our little chat with him?”
“Oh, after,” Julian assured him. “He was quite intrigued. He stops in every time he’s in the area. He quite likes the dungeon. I believe he brought a young brunette with him last time.”
Lucas frowned. “That would be Justine. She was my girlfriend for awhile.”
“The senator is discreet.” Julian looked at the boy with some sympathy.
“The senator is an asshole,” Lucas muttered. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s get down to business, gentlemen. Are we having dinner, or not? I could use a drink. The whole nearly getting run down by a crazy person thing has me on edge.”
“And the being blackmailed by a spoiled brat thing has done wonders for my nerves.” Julian poured another drink with a perfectly steady hand.
“I’m not giving you twenty million dollars,” Jack stated flatly.
“Then I’m sure I can make money off a tabloid story about the senator’s long-lost son.” Lucas’s bitterness was apparent in his tone. He took a quick drink and coughed a little. Jack wasn’t so sure about his reputation as a hard drinker. He would bet the drug stories were overblown, too. “You know he holds you up as paragon of virtue, Jack Barnes. You’re a self-made man. I could learn a lot from you. You had nothing, but you pulled yourself up. All it took was a little blackmail. Hell, he even admires you for that.”
“I am not responsible for your relationship with your father.” It was plain the boy was in need of attention, but he wasn’t Jack’s responsibility. He told himself that several times.
“Of course, it’s all my fault.” Lucas held the glass and stared into the fire.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.” Lucas’s reply was simple, the answer of a boy who knew the score and knew that he was never going to change anyone’s mind. “You’re just like the rest of them. I don’t know why I thought you might be different.” He took a long drink, as though building up his courage. He managed to only wince at that last drink, Jack noticed. He turned to face the men in the room. “Here’s the deal, gentlemen. If I don’t get what I want, I’m prepared to sell a story to the tabloids. I intend to out Julian Lodge as James Masters, the head of the Masters Fund. I doubt anyone will want to work with a notorious sex club owner.”
“I don’t think I’ll worry too much about that. Hugh Hefner doesn’t seem to be hurting for business,” Julian said with an elegant sigh. “Besides, I have enough money as it is. If all my investors dry up, I’ll take a nice vacation.”
That seemed to rattle Lucas a little. He shook it off and turned to Jack. “Fine, maybe Lodge doesn’t think he has anything to lose, but you just got married. What’s your wife going to think about your past in this club? How’s she going to feel knowing she married a notorious Dom?”
Jack noticed Julian hide a smile behind his hand. The boy had no idea how to handle men like them. “I wouldn’t call me notorious. I was actually quite good at it. And Abigail knows what I used to do and just how I came by the seed money for my business. You can’t shock her. Come by the house sometime, and I’ll introduce you to her. You can tell her what you know. I think she’ll be very amused.” She wouldn’t be amused. She would be pissed off. Abigail could be very protective of her men. Lucas would be forced to deal with one mad little cat.
Lucas’s face got hard, and, for a second, Jack wondered if he looked like that from time to time. It looked like there was some steel in the boy after all. “Fine. Then I’m sure the world would love to know about your ménage. Trust me, cattle ranchers sharing their woman will be a story the world would love to hear. Couple it with the fact that you’re Senator Allen Cameron’s son, and your sexual activities will be all over the news. I’m sure they’ll believe you just share her. They won’t think anything of the fact that you lived with Samuel Fleetwood for years before ever meeting Abby Moore. That business you’re in is a macho business. I’m sure a couple of gay cowboys will go over like gangbusters, bro.”
“Jackson.”
He heard the warning in Julian’s voice. He knew exactly what worried the club owner. Julian wouldn’t want to have to clean up the blood that Jack was about to spill. He heard the warning, but it seemed a distant thing. What Jack could hear plainly was his blood pressure rising. It was a roar in his ears blocking out everything else. He saw what he was going to do like a little movie in his mind. He was going to wrap his hands around Lucas Cameron’s throat, and then the little shit wouldn’t be a problem to anyone anymore.
The door to the dining room flew open.
“Mr. Lodge, we have a code red in the playroom,” said a breathless young woman in leather shorts and a bustier. It was obvious she had run in from the bar area. There was a buzzing coming from outside.
“Call Leo.” Julian got out of his seat. He took off his jacket and slung it over the chair, as though he knew he would be getting dirty.
“Leo’s involved in it. He was on the scene when it started,” the woman explained. “They’re fighting over two subs. The male started a fight with Patrick, and it’s getting bloody. He’s smaller than Patrick, but he seems really mean. Sally’s in the middle of all of it. I can’t find their Dom.”
Julian’s face hardened. “I know exactly where their Dom is. Jackson, will you forgo killing your brother for the moment? I need your help.”