Mercy (Salacious Players Club, #4)(48)

When her body is spent, she collapses on top of me, pressing her face against my chest, and I lift my bound wrists over her head to hold her closer. I don’t know if we’re still in the scene or if this is just us…or if there is any difference anymore.

All I know is that I am hers—in all the ways.

And I did not see that coming.





Her head is resting on my chest, her soft brown hair fanned out against my neck, and I’m fighting the urge to fall asleep.

“We broke the rules,” she whispers.

“Technically, you did. I can’t be punished for that.”

She laughs. “I do love punishing you, but you’re right. That was my fault.” She lifts her head and gazes up at me. Her hair is tousled and her makeup is smudged under her eyes. Everything about her is raw and real, and I can’t help myself as I pull her face toward mine to kiss her swollen lips.

As our mouths part, I whisper, “That was no one’s fault. That was amazing.”

“It was,” she replies, dropping her head on the pillow next to me. “It was kind of a first for me.”

My brow furrows as I lift up and gaze at her in shock. “What? Maggie…were you a vir—”

She responds with a laugh, pressing her hand to my mouth as she blushes. “No, no, no. I just meant it was the first time I’ve ever really…came during sex.”

The shock doesn’t really go away with this explanation. “Are you serious?”

With tight lips, she nods. “Unfortunately, yes.”

Her head settles against the pillow as we stare at each other.

“I never had the guts to take what I wanted before.” There’s a softness in her eyes, and I run my fingers along her arm as I think about all the times she was fucked by some random asshole, who couldn’t bother to make sure she at least climaxed.

Fuck, how many times have I been that asshole?

“How is that even possible?”

“Ugh…” She lets out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know. I just thought that’s the way it was supposed to be. I never thought I’d become…this.”

“But I mean…look at you now.”

She blushes, holding her cheeks. “I’ve never been like this. I’m a little embarrassed by how…vulgar that was.” She looks adorable as she tries to hide her face, pretending she didn’t just let her inner vixen out.

“I’m so confused,” I whisper as I rest my head on the pillow and stare at her.

“I grew up in a pretty conservative community. From the minute I started middle school, I remember everyone, my parents, teachers, friends telling me how harmful sex would be to me. How it would ruin me. That girls who had a lot of sex were…somehow tarnished. That losing my virginity meant being impure and somehow less of the person I was before. So I saved myself for a really long time because I believed them.”

“That’s fucking crazy,” I mutter, brushing the hair out of her face as I rest on my elbow.

“I know that now, but when you grow up with that mindset, it literally strips away all of the power a woman can have and replaces it with shame. So that when I did start doing it, I didn’t bother trying to enjoy it or find what I liked. And, after a while, I just stopped caring about sex altogether.”

As her eyes find mine, the moment grows heavy, and I can’t tell if I’m sad for her or pissed at the assholes who did this to her…or determined to give her as many orgasms as physically possible to make up for what she’s lost.

“So…how the hell did you end up owning a sex club?”

She smiles. “Your dad.”

My face morphs into a grimace as I let out a groan.

“You asked.”

Then realization dawns as the blood drains out of my face. As my eyes widen, I stare at her in terror. “Oh my God, Maggie…please tell me you two haven’t…”

“No!” she squeals. “God, no. That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

With a laugh, she continues, “Your dad was the one who got me the job at the company we used to work for. And when it went under, I was going to fall back on event planning, but he begged me to start Salacious with him. I tried to decline the job so many times. I wasn’t cut out for kink and sex, and I tried to tell him that, but he—being your dad—wouldn’t take no for an answer. He made me believe I was worth more than an employee, that I should be the owner, and honestly, no one had ever told me that before.”

I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling, a feeling of unwelcome guilt settling in my mind. I remember when my dad started the company. I was in high school. And I remember thinking how cool he was.

Until it became more than an app, and I learned that my dad was a deviant, pervert, and creep—as my mother put it.

The irony is not lost on me. Maggie was raised in a purity culture and I was raised in…almost the opposite, and yet, we ended up in similar situations. All of the lies they fed her, my mother was feeding me the same.

“You weren’t ever embarrassed?” I ask. “To own a sex club.”

Her hand rests on my chest as she lets out a sigh. “No. I felt like I was taking back something that was stolen from me. And I wasn’t going to let them shame me anymore.”