Read Online Controlling Interest by Francesca Hawley - Free Book Online

hands over his face and took a deep breath.
“What the hell happened back there?”
    She paced back and forth. When he moved in her direction,
she whipped around to glare at him. “She was screaming no at the top of
her lungs. How much clearer did she have to be that she wanted him to stop?”
    “In normal circumstances, I completely agree with you. But a
BDSM club comes nowhere near normal circumstances.” He walked over and gently
took her hands to stop her from chafing them against each other.
    “Why?”
    “First of all, because no submissive would ever use no or stop as safe words.”
    Mouse could feel her face heat. Shit. He was right. She
didn’t want him to be…but he was.
    “A submissive wouldn’t use them and a Dominant would never
allow it.”
    “Oh.”
    “Yes, oh. Second of all, never—and I mean never —interrupt
someone else’s scene.”
    “I thought that’s why there are dungeon monitors. If they
won’t interrupt a scene, of what possible use are they?”
    “ You are not a dungeon monitor.”
    “So?”
    “A DM has had training to handle him or herself. It’s
something I demand of anyone I hire to handle that job. They need to understand
when there’s a problem and when there isn’t one. A novice should never go
blundering into something they don’t understand.”
    “But she was crying.” Mouse shivered in memory. “And
screaming too.”
    “I know that. But that particular submissive craves pain. It
gets her into subspace and she was really close.”
    Mouse bit her lip. “It didn’t look like that.”
    “I know. But you don’t know her and the DMs who work here
do. Take your cue from them. If you don’t trust them, come find me.”
    “But that man was such a brute. He ignored her pleas to
stop.”
    “Because he knows she craves pain. I’m not sure Master Drago
even noticed you… Then again, he may have been watching your every move while
simultaneously focused on the sub.”
    “How could he?”
    “A top can become hypervigilant…hyperaware. Drago is
probably that kind of top. But a Dominant also focuses their attention deeply
and profoundly on the submissive. He was judging just how hard to hit her.
Whether she was at a point where she wouldn’t even think about a safe word
anymore… There’s so much that was happening that you didn’t understand. That’s
why you should never disrupt a scene.”
    Mouse dropped into a chair and put her head in her hands.
“This is too much for me. I don’t know what Regine was thinking.” She shook her
head as she fought tears again. Her gut was still twisting in the aftermath of
what she’d witnessed.
    Tor crouched in front of her and took her hands. “Hey. What really happened back there?”
    “You saw…”
    “I saw. But it was more than wanting to pound Drago.”
    “Shouldn’t I want to help someone who needs me?”
    “Sure, but this was way more than that and you know it. That
was a deep memory for you. What was it, honey?”
    Mouse lifted her gaze, surprised to see Tor’s eyes soften
with concern. She shook her head and tried to pull her hands away, but he
didn’t let go.
    “You were seeing more than what was in front of you. What
did you really see?”
    Mouse closed her eyes while Tor just waited. Could she tell
him? It was so dark… Buried so deep…
    “It’s okay, Mouse. Share it with me and maybe you’ll release
some of the pain tied to it. Were you in an abusive relationship once?”
    She shook her head. Thank God she’d never had a boyfriend
who hurt her.
    “Was it a friend of yours?”
    “Not exactly.”
    “Who then?”
    “My mother.”
    “What about her?” His question was soft but insistent. “Did
your father abuse her?”
    “Not exactly. It was my grandfather.”
    “Your grandfather ?”
    She looked up at the question in his voice and tried to pull
away again.
    “It doesn’t matter. Let me go.”
    “Not yet. What did your grandfather do?”
    “It was my fault. Mine.” She tugged her hands