Clarissa reached for it, her eyes darting up to Xander and then Mercedes and back once again. He wanted to shake his head, to encourage her not to go through with it. Before he had the option, the end of the riding crop came up to rest beneath his chin, and Xander lifted his eyes to meet Mercedes’s glowing gray gaze.

“I want you to watch the pretty little sub’s mouth wrapped around your cock.”

The only sound that could be heard was Clarissa’s rapid gasps and the rustle of Shane’s clothing as he moved somewhere in the background.

Xander stared back at Mercedes, praying like hell she’d realize just what was going on here, stop before the damage could be undone. Or maybe that’s what she wanted. Maybe she wanted Xander to be with Clarissa so that she could use it against him.

He saw the battle in her eyes, saw that she was just as tormented as he felt, but she wasn’t going to cave. She was trying to prove something here, but fuck it all. He didn’t give a good goddamn about proving anything.

Not when it came to his love for Mercedes.

The instant she looked away, Xander said, “Red.”

Her eyes darted up to meet his.

“What did you say?”

“Red.” There was absolutely no mistaking the fact that he was using his safe word.

He saw the relief that flooded her face before she quickly masked it, doing her best to cover it up with something else. But no matter what she wanted him to believe, Xander knew the truth.

Xander didn’t see Shane move, but he noticed Clarissa getting to her feet. He looked up at his friend just in time to see the realization on Shane’s face.

Yeah, I went there, he thought to himself. I fucking love her.

Xander was pretty sure Shane knew everything he was feeling.

Without a sound, Shane helped Clarissa slip back into her dress, and the two of them disappeared out of the room.

When the door closed behind them, Mercedes moved over to the wall. She hit a button that released the chains and then another that flipped the glass from clear to opaque, sealing them somewhat from prying eyes. It wasn’t until she hit the button to turn off the microphones that she finally spoke.

“Why?”

“Why what?” he asked, pretending to be oblivious to what she was referring to.

“Why did you use your safe word?”

Xander didn’t answer immediately. He waited for her to come over to release him from the chains that still restrained his arms and legs.

He wasn’t about to make the biggest admission of his life while he was in a fucking playroom at the club, chained to the wall. Knowing that Mercedes would likely flee the room and leave him there, he decided to wait.

She must’ve realized it too.

~~**~~**~~

Mercedes was barely breathing. There was a roaring in her ears that had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with relief.

Xander had used his safe word.

Because of her.

For the last few minutes, Mercedes had been praying Clarissa would safe word. Wishing like hell the nervous little sub would save them all from themselves.

But she hadn’t, and Mercedes had been terrified of going any further. She didn’t want Clarissa touching Xander. Didn’t want to watch anyone touching him.

For some unknown reason, her scene had taken a drastic turn somewhere along the way, and it had been all her fault. But right then and there, the scene was the last thing she worried about. She didn’t care that Clarissa and Shane would likely think of her as a failure. She didn’t care that half of the club would think that either.

At this point, the only thing she wanted to do was to come with Xander’s cock lodged deep inside of her. To feel him against her. Anything to get Xander’s hands on her, even if it meant handing over the control to him. He had effectively destroyed her defenses, making her lose her touch, but she really didn’t care. Not right then at least.

Unable to hold back any longer, Mercedes moved to release Xander from his restraints. Neither of them said a word, but the nonverbal communication between them was loud and clear.

The look in Xander’s eyes stole the oxygen from her lungs.

For the last half hour, she’d wanted nothing more than to abandon the scene. It was selfish to put her own needs above everyone else’s, but for the life of her, she couldn’t go through with it.

Even now, she knew Xander would be more than happy to take over from there because he was a Dom, and she was… an imposter.

She knew she should consider this the ultimate defeat, but it didn’t change the fact that she could hardly breathe for wanting him.

Once he was freed, Mercedes stood motionless in front of him, watching, waiting.

“This is still your show,” he whispered. “What do you want?”

“What do you mean ‘what do I want’? I failed, Xander. It’s done.”

“Not even close,” he growled. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

Mercedes didn’t understand what he was doing. Why wasn’t he taking over? Why wasn’t he forcing her to do what he wanted?

“We aren’t walking out of here until we’re through here.”

“We are—” through. Mercedes couldn’t say it. She didn’t want it to be true. She didn’t want what they had to be over, and she knew he was giving her a chance to redeem herself. To take back the scene that had gone horribly wrong.

“Pick up right where we left off,” he told her, but he wasn’t commanding her. He was making a request.

Mercedes stared at him in disbelief for a long moment before she said, “Sit in that chair with your legs wide.”

Xander gripped the chair that was in the corner and set it down beside where they stood before lowering himself into it. Without another word, he spread his legs wide. His thick, heavy cock was like a steel rod standing proudly against his belly, his muscles tense, but he had a smile on his handsome face.

“Come here.” He urged. Still not a command.

Mercedes realized then that she wanted him to take over from here. Because for her, it no longer mattered who held the reins. This man owned her. Every piece of her.

Walking around to stand between his spread thighs, Mercedes put his hands on her hips as she looked down at him, still trying to hold on to the last sliver of control that even she knew had disintegrated a long time ago.

“I want to ride your cock. Right here, right now,” she told him, trying to play along.

Xander nodded, and Mercedes gripped his dark hair tightly. If she had been thinking like a true Domme, his lack of response would’ve angered her, but she was long past that. She wasn’t able to keep up the perfect Domme routine. Not with him.

Hooking her left leg on the outside of Xander’s thick right thigh, Mercedes gripped his erection in her fist and guided him inside of her before sinking down on him slowly.

“Oh, God,” she moaned, pressing her cheek against his. “X,” she pleaded quietly. “Please.”

She allowed her body to adjust to the blunt intrusion, and once she could take him deeper, she relied on Xander’s firm grip on her hips to hold her as she raised up and hooked her right leg over his left leg until she was straddling his lap, his cock buried to the hilt inside of her.

“Fuck me, X. Please,” she moaned, moving her mouth to his, unable to keep from kissing him.

The way Xander gripped her hips, lifting her until only the head of his cock was penetrating her, and then lowering her roughly, Mercedes knew he was right there on the edge with her.

She was in public, even if the audience could only see shadows through the opaque glass, but none of it mattered. As far as she was concerned, they were the only two people in the entire world.

What that said about her, she didn’t know, and she no longer cared.

“Fuck me harder,” she encouraged, gripping his shoulders as she stared down at him. The intensity in his gaze was her lifeline, and she clung to it.

Xander held her hips tightly, pulling her flush against him and then lifting her, his cock thrusting up into her from below until the friction all but consumed her, his cock nailing her G-spot with every deep stroke. Mercedes was suspended by a thread, hovering on the edge of an orgasm so explosive, she wasn’t sure she’d survive it.

With her eyes still locked with his, she ran her hands over the chiseled features of his ruggedly beautiful face, desperately holding on to that connection that she knew she would feel lost without.

No matter what she’d originally thought, her pleasure was owned by this one man. Her perception of what she had wanted was clearly skewed and without Xander she would’ve felt lost and helpless. But Xander eased her, gave her strength, made her feel. And nothing else mattered except him.

Her pleasure was in his hands, and she knew she could give herself up to him completely and never have to worry. He’d be there to catch her when she fell.

And she was falling. Desperately. And fast.

Sucking his bottom lip into her mouth, she gently nipped him, his cock pulsing deep inside of her as the pain registered.

“Are you ready to come for me?” This time he was the one to ask, but his words were a mere puff of air against her ear. He was allowing her to save face, even when no one else was in the room to know.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Then come for me, pet,” he encouraged. “Come on my cock. Let me feel you.”

“Oh, God.” That’s all she needed. His permission. Not the other way around. One more forceful thrust of his hips and she was flying into orbit, Xander’s hands gripping her ass, bracing her.