Free Don't... 04 Backlash by Jack L. Pyke Page B

and Jan in
the darkness. Not enough to keep the quiet at bay, but enough to
feed the addiction until he could touch those who had spoon fed
Elena’s sickness with financial backing.
    Jack only
thought he was a bastard.
    Elena knew he
was. Now. The only question that remained was why Elena mentioned
these numbers and letters in particular, and what tie, if any, they
had to Jack and Jan’s kidnap and rape. He didn’t believe in
coincidence either. Not with the sudden push for the SSTP meeting
this morning. Two sides were being pushed to breaking since he’d
taken Elena: his and now Logan’s.
    Someone else
knew he had Elena. Why had that spooked them?

Chapter
8 First
Touches
    It was nine
o’clock by the time Gray pulled up outside his usual spot along the
perimeter wall of his manor. Again it was already dark, and that
lack of fear of the darkness had his gaze easing towards the woods.
A security guard looked over the moment he’d parked, but no
acknowledgement was given.
    He needed
peace, he needed quiet, if only for a little while, but his mobile
phone didn’t let him find any.
    You
shut things down early last night. Before you even got to the
party?
    Gray briefly
closed his eyes.
    Trace.
    Quiet,
then—
Brennan would
say bringing Jan into this lifestyle is a bigger shit storm than
arranging that party. You could’ve listened back then and avoided
all of this.
    Gray grunted a
bitter smile. So Brennan was the one pushing the buttons.
    Do
you regret any of it?
Trace asked.
Letting Jan in, because—
    Somewhere along the line, you fell in love with him, didn’t
you?
Gray frowned,
then focused back on Trace’s message.
    — it’s
not your MO... letting anyone in except Jack.
    No
, Gray
thumbed in.
I don’t
regret anything where Jan’s concerned.
    Even
with what they’ve been through?
    Gray’s
stomach twisted.
And
if Jan hadn’t been there? What then? It wouldn’t have changed what
Jack’s mother had planned, not with who’s out there backing her,
and Jan—
    Whether Jan had
known it or not, he’d thrown something into the mix that had
unsettled them all, but something had needed unsettling. Gray had
been used to formality where Jack was concerned; Jack had become
stuck in routine: professional distance, however full of pretence
they’d both pushed it to be. Jan set all of that off-balance, but
had been there to pull them in close when they’d started to
fall.
    He was still
there doing that despite everything he’d been forced to endure.
    Jan
what?
replied
Trace.
    He’s
staying where he is
.
    And
you?
    Gray glanced at
the woods, just briefly.
    You
called not only Jack’s personal safe word but external security;
and for a Master to call them....
Trace left that unfinished; he’d left it
unfinished the day after Gray had told Jack and Jan to leave, when
Gray had called and asked for time away from the MC, and he could
have only have gotten that off Brennan.
    What
about you?
came in
again from Trace.
    It was
there, that need to bite back that:
What the fuck about me?
If Jan hadn’t been here, yes, he’d have
trusted his instinct more, known something was wrong, hell even
probably got Jack out of the fuckhole sooner. But the one element
that still wanted to call out Jack’s safe word? The one element
that still made him want to crawl back to home shores? If Jan
hadn’t been here, Jack’s mother wouldn’t have needed two weeks to
deconstruct Jack mentally and break him down. Because what they had
before, all the formality, the rules, the routine, that fucking
bullshit—there would have been
nothing
normal for Jack to hold on to. What did that make him as
Master?
What fucking
right do I have talking as a Master, wanting to collar Jack, when
it took the addition of another man to break all of that formal
bullshit?
He’d
typed that before realising, and it was probably the first time
he’d opened up away from Jack and Jan.
    Easy... Has it worked?
    Gray
frowned at Trace’s message.