She stared after him, wondering how long they’d been alone in this room. After looking around, she confirmed that she hadn’t seen it before, so he must have brought her in here. She shifted and winced. Damn, but her flesh was screaming. That scene had been pure torture. She understood why Mason wanted her to experience it.
Because some people got off on pain, and she wouldn’t know what she liked until she tried it. The spanking had been tolerable. Hell, it had been hot, but she doubted she’d like the whipping even if he’d been the one striking her.
In fact, she knew she wouldn’t have.
With the first lash, she knew Hell had found her. There’d been no escape. No enjoyment, not even toleration.
Not until Mason had shown up. After he’d soothed her and touched her, she no longer had control of her body, her desires. She’d become his vessel of pleasure, and her instinct had been to satisfy his needs, regardless of what they were. She shivered as she accepted the fact that she would’ve had sex with him right there in front of everybody if he’d wanted it. Though sex wasn’t what he’d sought.
She almost wished it had been. Him holding her, comforting her had touched her in a place she’d never felt before. It had felt completely foreign. And beautiful.
She blinked as she felt her eyes water. She couldn’t fall in—no, she couldn’t even think about feelings. Couldn’t go there at all. To do so would force her to admit something she was too scared to.
The door opened, drawing her attention. Viola stared at her wide-eyed and slowly approached as if she was scared Shelby would be spooked by her presence and try to run.
“Hey,” she said slowly.
“Hi.” Shelby looked behind her, but didn’t see anybody else come in. “Where’s Dave?”
“He’s outside with Showalter.” She took her time moving toward Shelby and sat carefully. “How do you feel?”
She would’ve laughed without mirth if she could’ve mustered the strength. “That’s the million dollar question now, isn’t it?” She shrugged and seriously regretted the movement, but she tried to cover her grimace. “I don’t know,” she murmured. “Everything seems so… I don’t know.”
Viola reached over and took her hand. “That was intense. If Showalter hadn’t shown up when he did, I was about to stop that shit myself. I don’t know how. I think I started to on instinct because I’d stepped away from Dave all tense and caught that big bald guy watching me.”
“Master Jedrek.”
“Yeah, whatever. That dude has a serious attitude problem.”
Shelby chuckled then. “I thought of him as Mr. Mean when I first saw him.”
“It suits.” Her smile was sad. “I couldn’t find out anything. He watched me like a damn hawk. He didn’t realize I noticed, but I sure as hell did. I had to play off the concerned friend, then the pissed friend when you were whisked away—emotions I did not have to fake, by the way. I even confronted Emory. He seemed cool and easygoing again. It was like he was a different person while he was whipping you. I demanded answers, but he gave placating ones. It was a total bust for me. I did have Dave hang out at the bar, though, to see if he could get some general information about the club. It’s a long shot, but I didn’t want to waste the resource.”
“Smart.”
“Maybe. I’ll talk to him tonight to see if he picked up anything, but I’m not holding my breath.”
“You did what you could. I don’t know what Rick expected you to find.”
“I think maybe he doesn’t like you being here alone and wanted you to feel secure knowing you had backup this time.”
“I get it, but the change of heart is too little too late.”
Viola arched an eyebrow at her. “You know he’s not leaving you alone here, right? Not really.”
“I know protocol is to have a team in place in case something happens when one of us is out in the field, but this isn’t a simple sting op. They’d have to have a team working twenty-four-seven since I never know when Showalter will call.”
“True, but I heard him talking to Carson about taking the shift tonight. I asked Carson after Rick left, and he said they’ve had a surveillance team near the location whenever you’re scheduled to be here. He didn’t give specifics, and I got the feeling he’d been instructed to keep quiet about it.”
Shelby’s mouth dropped. “Why wouldn’t he announce it in the meeting if he had someone watching the outside while I’m here?” That didn’t make any sense. If their objective was to solve this case, then they should all be privy to everything.
“You know Rick doesn’t believe in democracy. Not on his team. He’s lord of his manner, and we all do what he says. I’m sure he has his reasons, and he’ll align himself with them until the end.”
Viola was right about that, but she had another nagging thought. “Then why didn’t Darrell say anything? He’s not one to keep secrets from me.”
That earned her an eye roll. “Girl, I know you two are tight and all, but that man is so by the book the damn thing is fused to his hand. Maybe Rick didn’t want you focusing your energy on anything other than getting close to Showalter. Who knows? If he told Darrell to leave you out of it, he would follow his orders.”
Shelby nodded slowly. “Yeah, you’re right.” But as she looked at Viola, another thought came to her. “If I wasn’t told because of some concern over my ability to maintain focus on my objective—”
“I didn’t say that.”
Shelby held up her hand to stop Viola’s protest. “Anyway. Why weren’t you told?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It was just a theory. The guys are all single except for Rick. Maybe he didn’t want me pulling all-nighters away from my husband unless it was necessary. Maybe he figured I’d be pulled in with
