Jack clenched his fists but got up anyway. He’d promised Julian he would help if the subs in the Platinum Suite got out of hand. It seemed like they had. It was only to be expected. Two subs shouldn’t go running around in a club like this. He should have insisted on talking to them earlier, but he’d been thinking of his own problems. He was still thinking of his own problems, but theirs seemed to be intruding. Besides, he reasoned, he couldn’t kill Lucas in front of witnesses. He shook his head as he followed Julian out.
“How bad is it?” Julian glanced back at the blonde woman, but she couldn’t keep up in her heels.
Even from the bar, Jack could hear the fight. It was loud and getting louder by the second. Jack knew it was bad when Julian broke into a jog.
“Call security.” Jack barked the order to the bartender as they ran down the hallway that led to the playroom. Normally a bouncer was standing at the entryway, but the small desk was empty. Jack figured he’d already jumped into the fray.
There was a mass of people watching the fight. It seemed like all other activities had come to a halt, and violence, rather than sex, was the theme of the evening. There was the sickening thud of flesh hitting flesh. Julian and Jack started shoving their way through the crowd.
“You keep your fucking hands off her!” A very familiar voice cut through the mess.
“Sam?”
Through the throng of bodies fighting, Jack caught a glimpse of his partner. He was throwing a punch at a bald guy while kicking another man. He seemed to be trying to get to someone. Jack had a sudden horrible thought that he knew who Sam was trying to protect.
Julian looked back at Jack. “Well, would you like to talk to me about karma now, Jackson? Like it or not, it’s about to bite you in the ass.”
Chapter Nine
Abby scrambled to get up. All around her, people were rushing to get a good place to watch the fight that was going on. The heels and the miniskirt she wore hampered her every movement. She tried to push her way toward Sam, but she kept getting shoved toward the back of the crowd. She felt a big hand clamp down on her arm. It hauled her up, and she found herself against a big, masculine body.
Leo, that was what the other man had called him. Leo’s blue eyes were blazing with impatience as he towered over her.
“Where is your Dom?”
Abby found herself turning away from him. She didn’t have to answer him, she told herself. Then she saw Sam take a punch to the gut that made her eyes water. She tried to pull away to go help him, but that big hand held her tightly.
“No way, little sub.” There was a bit of kindness in his voice now. “He’s a big boy, and he started this fight. Please tell me your Dom is somewhere in the building.”
“He’s probably with Julian Lodge.” Maybe it was time to bring in Jack. She had wanted to give him a little shock to his system. She’d thought he might be pissed about the shopping. She knew he’d be upset about the motorcycle and the impromptu trip to The Club. She figured he’d blow a gasket over this. She clutched at Leo’s arm. “Don’t get him, please. Look, I’ll tell him everything, but if he walks in on this…I don’t know what he’ll do.”
Leo shook his head. “I do. You’re going to look lovely on a St. Andrew’s Cross, dear. I’ll lend him my single tail if he didn’t bring his own.”
Abby wasn’t really sure what a single tail was, but it didn’t sound good. She knew exactly what a St. Andrew’s Cross was and wondered briefly if Jack would really strap her to one for public punishment.
“Stay here,” Leo instructed her. He squeezed her arm one last time. It felt like a warning. “I’m going to get your master.”
The minute he was gone, Abby started to force her way through the crowd. She wasn’t going to let Sam fight that man alone. He was bigger than Sam. Abby brushed past bodies and tried not to think about the hands that groped her as she moved through. All she could think about was getting to her man.
She fought her way to the front just in time to see Sam kick the hell out of Baldie. Baldie groaned loudly because Sam really was mean. That boot of his caught Baldie firmly in the crotch. It should have been the end of the fight, but Baldie had some friends, and Sam refused to go down.
Sam swung out at the two men, obviously security guards, trying to pin him down. Abby realized Sam had more than likely moved past the time when he could make the sane decision to retreat. Sam was running on pure adrenaline at this point. She needed to get to him so they could make a getaway. Abby had a bad feeling that Julian Lodge might not care that she wasn’t his sub to punish this time around. Then there was the potential that he would bring Jack. Tears sprang to her eyes. Jack just might decide she wasn’t worth all this trouble.
“Sam!” Abby yelled over the betting now going on around her. “Sam!”
He wasn’t listening to anything but the inner Tyler Durden he’d unleashed. She should never have let him watch Fight Club. She was about to walk into the middle of the fight when she felt herself being pulled back.
She turned quickly and looked into very dark eyes. The man was tall and dressed in head-to-toe leather. He was slender, and there was a certain cruelty to the set of his mouth.
“No collar, sub,” he whispered into her ear. “I’ll have one on you before the end of the night.”
Abby pulled away, but that hand was strong and attached to a lean, powerful body. Before Abby could do anything to stop it, she felt cold metal pressed to her wrist. She couldn’t hear it over the crowd, but she knew the cuff probably snapped as it closed over her wrist. That asshole had just handcuffed her.
Now she was panicking a little. She tried digging her stilettos into the hardwood of the floors. It didn’t work. She twisted and fought. Her eyes sought anyone who might help, but everyone around her was focused on the fight.
“Sam!” Abby screamed, not to save him this time, but to get him to save her. There were too many people in the crowd. She couldn’t see him anymore.
“You take your fucking hands off her!” she heard Sam shout. She breathed a sigh of relief even though she was still being pulled along. Sam wouldn’t let some guy in leather carry her down to the dungeon.
“What the fuck is going on?”
The whole room got still at the loud roar.
Jack! Relief infused her, even as dread rolled through her belly. She’d wanted to shake him up, but not this much. On the bright side, while she could yell all day long and no one paid attention, the minute Jack said a word, the world stopped.
Jack’s low growl could be heard easily now. There was a slight parting in the crowd. Abby could see her husbands. Jack’s back was to her, but Sam was on full display. “Samuel, would you like to explain why the hell you aren’t at home with our wife?”
“Jack.” Sam sounded breathless. He stood still. His shirt was torn, and there was blood on his face.
Leather Guy decided to ignore the scene playing out behind him. He started to pull Abby along.
“Hey.” Abby pulled the other way.
“You stop!” Sally shouted. She was shaking as she stood up to the Dom.
“Get out of my way, little girl,” Leather Guy said. “I don’t have time to punish you, sub. I have a plaything for the night.”
“She doesn’t belong to you.” Sally’s voice was tremulous, but she held her ground. She walked back to take Abby’s free arm. “I’m taking her back.”
Abby found herself being pulled in two directions. Sally tried to force her away from Leather Guy. Leather Guy tugged on the other side of the handcuff he’d attached to her wrist.
“Girl, I’m about to make the time to punish you,” Leather Guy swore.