The Brink by Shayla Black

Once Seth and Beck escorted Raine to her room, Hammer stormed into his office and slammed the door. Could this day get any fucking worse? First Gwyneth and her baby, then Liam’s meltdown, Raine’s withdrawal, and now Bill Kendall.

“What next?” Hammer spat.

Hopefully, he’d reached his shit quotient for the day.

After grabbing his phone, he punched in Bill’s number. Raine’s pitiful excuse of a father answered on the third ring.

“About time you got back to me, Master Pervert.”

So the asshole had caller ID. What shocked Hammer was that Kendall’s voice lacked the usual slur. Macen glanced at his watch. Not quite eight a.m. He’d thought it was always cocktail hour at the Kendall household.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, coming to my club?”

No need for subtleties. In fact, Hammer cursed himself for not beating some fear into the lowlife piece of shit years ago. Instead, he’d paid Raine’s father a monthly stipend to steer clear of her. And continued to pay it long after she’d turned eighteen. But providing her a safe haven had been worth every penny. He’d have spent everything he owned to keep her out of Bill Kendall’s abusive hands.

“You’re late with your payment,” the old man complained. “I want my money.”

“I won’t give you another cent,” Hammer grated out. “I made that clear during my visit last week.”

“Do you have any idea what I can do to you?” Bill lashed back, his voice ugly.

“I know you think you have power over me. You’ve got nothing, Bill. Fuck off.”

“If you don’t pay up, I’ll tell the police you kidnapped my minor daughter and raped her.”

“Say anything you want.” Hammer called his bluff. “You’ve got no proof, and Raine will insist you’re lying.”

Even if the man made those ludicrous allegations and actually found someone willing to listen, Hammer felt sure he and Liam could keep Raine safe.

Besides, he had some insurance of his own.

“Do you honestly think I need proof?” Bill scoffed. “You run a den of iniquity. To the community, you’re Satan himself. Tying up women, beating and raping them, and god knows what else. They’ll line up ten deep to watch you fry. And I’ll just laugh.”

Hammer gritted his teeth. “You’re forgetting one very important fact. I’ve got a witness who heard you confess that you tried to rape your own underage daughter.”

A murderous, blood-red rage filled Hammer every time he thought of Raine struggling against her repugnant father.

“Liam will be more than happy to testify under oath exactly what you said,” Hammer added.

Bill scoffed. “The word of another known pervert doesn’t mean anything.”

“I’ve also got the medical doctor who examined her the night I found her all beaten and bruised to back me up.”

“I’ll tell the judge and jury that you gave them both a piece of my underage daughter’s ass to persuade them to fall in line.”

Hammer gripped the phone tightly. He fought the urge to drive to Bill Kendall’s house and beat him with a crowbar until the man’s brains littered his filthy, threadbare carpet.

“I still have the photos cataloging everything you did to her, you miserable piece of shit,” Macen reminded. “You fuck with me, and all your neighbors will know what kind of monster you were to Raine as a girl. They’ll see every bruise and laceration your daughter suffered beneath the hands of their pedophile neighbor.”

“I’ll sue you for slander, you self-righteous bastard,” Bill screamed. “Give me my money or you’ll be sorry.”

“Don’t threaten me, old man. You come around Shadows again, and I’ll put a bullet through your head. That’s a promise.”

With fury buzzing in his ears, Hammer hung up and let out a deep sigh, trying to bring his temper under control. A breath didn’t do it. Another only helped marginally. He needed to go check on Raine, but he couldn’t until he dialed back his urge to kill her father. One look at Hammer’s face and he knew she’d see rage—and start asking more questions.

Slamming a fist on his desk, Hammer cursed long and low, then fired off a text about Bill to Liam, who was probably still occupied with the viper. Not that his friend needed something else to fucking worry about.

Text sent, Hammer closed his eyes and sucked in a breath.

“Was that Raine’s father? It didn’t sound as if the chat went well.”

Hammer snapped his head up and stared at Seth, hovering in the doorway. “God knows the only time a chat with Bill Kendall will go well is when he’s six feet under. I wish I’d recorded that conversation, damn it. How is Raine?”

“In the shower. She’s quiet—for now. You know that’s subject to change once she decides she’s pissed off about the way you two are behaving.”

Seth hadn’t known Raine long, but he was catching on fast.

Macen nodded. “I expect her to blow past her hurt soon and throw a righteous little fit.”

“Yeah. She’s earned it. You two promised her honesty and communication so she could trust you. Neither of you is delivering. I’ll talk to Liam about why he’s licking his wounds. But you’re lying to her worse than a used car salesman. Are you two just trying to see how fast you can fuck this up?”

Seth wasn’t far off the mark.

“Thank you for your opinion, Dr. Phil, but Liam and I have already worked this out. We have a plan.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Because those always work out so well for you two.”

Hammer glared. “Did you come here for a reason? If not, I’d appreciate it if you kept an eye on Raine. I’ll be there in a minute.”

As soon as he got his worry for her safety and his need to strangle Bill under control.

“I did come here for a reason.” Seth sighed. “Go easy on Liam. He’s under a lot of strain. Problems are coming at him so quickly he’s juggling chainsaws.”

“We both are. Bill is no picnic.”

“I’ve gathered. But Liam wasn’t in good shape when I sent him to Los Angeles to visit you, so this is extra strain he doesn’t need.”

“What do you mean? He just came here to avoid winter. And maybe some of the places in New York that reminded him of his marriage to Gwyneth, but—”

“Is that what he told you?” Seth snorted.

“Yeah.” Hammer shook his head. “Wait. Back up. You sent him to me? For what?”

With a droll grin, Seth shrugged. “At the time, we were both under the impression that you had your shit together. I thought you could help fix him.”

Hammer paused. Seth’s words did a flyby in his brain, buzzing around, but he couldn’t quite catch them. “Fix what? He said he’d done his soul searching after his divorce and was fine.”

“Unless he searched for his soul by bleeding masochists with a single tail, then no.”

He blinked at Seth, feeling his jaw hit the floor. “Liam? He’s not a sadist.”

“He sure played one back home for a few months. He was scary convincing, too.”

Hammer groped around for his chair and sank into it. That wasn’t like Liam at all. “What the fuck? Did Gwyneth twist him up that badly?”

“After he caught her cheating, he seemed so damn angry all the time. Controlled, of course. Maybe too much. But under that, he just seethed.”

The puzzle pieces started falling into place. Liam had been so furious with Beck for spanking Raine with a rubber paddle the night he’d collared her because he’d once inflicted that sort of pain himself on subs far more willing. His fury when Hammer’s inner beast had come out also made sense. Takes one to know one.

“Why? He didn’t love Gwyneth,” Hammer pointed out.

“No, but she sure as fuck wounded his pride.”

Yes, and scarred his ability to trust. Damn it, why hadn’t Liam even hinted that he’d had a problem in New York? “I can’t imagine him having a sadistic side. I haven’t seen it, not here. What made him stop?”

“If I had to guess? You.”

Of all the things Seth could have said, that shocked him the most. “Me?”

“Yeah, once he got here, he realized you were in love with Raine and wouldn’t let yourself touch her. He—”

“Focused on my problems, not his own.” Hammer pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Bingo.”

Hammer knew Liam well. That was the kind of thing his friend would do, sacrifice himself to help a brother. “Shit.”

“So you see why I’m a little concerned about two ‘blind’ men showing Raine the way.”

“Point taken.”

“Good.” Seth nodded. “Liam is better since he came here. I think Raine makes him want to be better in a way Gwyneth never did. In a way Juliet never could.”

Hammer closed his eyes. God, almost everything had changed since he and Liam had shared Juliet a decade ago—except Macen’s craving for a relationship that looked a lot like their past few days at the lodge. Together, they had drilled to the heart of Raine’s issues and rewarded her progress with pleasure. Liam had been the right partner all those years ago, but Juliet could never have been their right woman. Not only had she lacked Raine’s warmth and soft heart, she hadn’t taken control of her life. She’d never communicated that they made her feel like a “fuck doll” until she’d learned she was pregnant and spoken out with a bottle of pills. By contrast, if he and Liam did something that made Raine feel less than loved, she would squeeze their balls until they changed course. She chose to surrender her power; she didn’t give it over because fighting was too much effort.

Hammer knew he was still dealing with the aftermath of Juliet’s suicide, but he’d had no idea Liam was still so impacted by Gwyneth’s betrayal. Now that he did, he had to get smart about Liam’s hot buttons.

“Thanks for sticking your neck out for him. You’ve given me a lot of information I need.”

Seth shrugged. “He and I are tight, but you two have a bond that’s…beyond. I couldn’t help him anymore. I think you can. I know Raine can—if you manage to keep it all together.”

Hammer felt himself getting a bit choked. “We will. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

* * *

Outside in the bright sunlight, Macen shoved on his sunglasses as he helped Raine into the passenger seat of his Audi. After jogging around the vehicle, he slid behind the wheel and eased through the parking lot. He glanced in the rearview mirror, hoping to catch a glimpse of Liam escorting the ice queen and the kid away. No such luck. Hammer wouldn’t breathe easy until Liam’s ex was out of his club—and out of their lives.

The idea of his friend fathering a child on that bitch made Macen more than a little ill. Liam didn’t lack the capacity to love the kid or provide for him. Hell, he’d be a model father. The idea that he’d have to deal with his ex-wife for the next eighteen years ate at Hammer. If the baby did prove to be Liam’s, the strain of that was bound to spill over to Raine. Hammer could only wonder what would happen then.

Blending two lives happily was difficult enough, let alone three. Adding Gwyneth into the mix? A nightmare. He’d do whatever necessary to help Liam and Raine deal, though, if he could spend the rest of his life in the bliss he’d felt last night.

Raine turned on the radio and nibbled on a nail as she listened to a mournful ballad. Yeah, she knew something was wrong. It was all over her face.

“I know you said Liam has a business issue. If that’s the case, when we were in the car, why wasn’t he on the phone trying to fix it?” she asked. “That seems unlike him. I’m worried.”

Sometimes, the girl was too clever. Though he’d expected her to ask more questions, he’d also promised not to lie. “Liam is having a meeting now to find out the scope of the issue. He should know more after that.”

“But he seemed angry. Did someone betray him? Screw up?”

More than you know…“He suspects someone is trying to dupe him. But he’s smart, so he’ll get it all worked out. If he needs us, he’ll let us know.”

Raine sent him a slow nod. She didn’t look happy, but Macen hoped that was the end of her interrogation. Though he was more accustomed to shielding her from ugly truths, he and Liam had to come clean. He was nervous as hell about telling her everything tonight, but he refused to lose her when a few words might keep her near. Hammer tried not to think that those same words might also push her away.

Swallowing the tight lump lodged in his throat, he prayed that before breakfast was through, Liam would have Gwyneth confessing the truth and this whole shit storm sorted out.

They pulled into a local diner, and Hammer helped Raine from the car. Once seated in a booth, he chugged his coffee and fixated on the adorable little line that appeared between her brows as she sipped juice and studied the menu. “What sounds good, precious?”

“It’s all tasty.” She shrugged. Tipping the edge of the menu down, she gazed at him with pensive blue eyes. “But it would have been my pleasure to cook for you. Why didn’t you let me? Liam needs food, too.”

Guilt sludged through his veins. A confession sat on the tip of his tongue, but he and Liam had agreed to tell her together. Raine would need reassurances from them both.

He took another swig of coffee and tried to smooth out his expression. “I know. I love that you want to cook for us. But you’re tired.”

“I’m fine.”

The waiter arrived with a pad and a pen before he could say anything else. Raine ordered next to nothing. With a scowl, Hammer asked for his favorite dish, along with a few hearty sides to share in case he could coax Raine into eating more.

“Christmas is in less than three weeks,” he began. “I’m sure you’ll want to start decorating and planning the annual holiday gift exchange for the members.”

Hopefully, that project would take her mind off everything else, at least until tonight.

Raine frowned. “How long have you known Liam?”

No such luck. He sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Almost a decade. He’s fine. Everything is going to be fine.”

“Has he ever been into adult-baby play?”

Hammer had braced himself for a question about Liam’s mood, his troubles, his lack of honesty—anything except his fetishes. “What?”

She blushed. For all that Raine had finished growing up in a BDSM club, she’d never participated until the last few weeks. Some things she understood purely from observation. “You know, ‘daddy’ play. Diapers, bottles, rocking, and powdering butts. Is he into that?”

Her question made it clear she didn’t like the idea at all.

Hammer didn’t think he had to lie about that…but he also hadn’t known that Liam had spent any time as a sadist. “He’s never expressed even a remote interest. Why do you ask?”

Raine let out a little sigh, but that line of confusion still wrinkled her brow. “I found this just after my shower.”

She reached into the pocket of her jacket and slammed something on the table between them. It sounded plastic as it hit the faux wooden surface, but nothing could have surprised him more than to see a pacifier sitting between them.

Instantly, he knew Gwyneth had left it behind for Liam—or Raine—to find. Even before they’d returned to Shadows, that bitch had been planting what she hoped were seeds of destruction.

He gritted his teeth and swallowed back rage. His goddamn blood pressure must have shot up fifty points. Macen felt like a pressure cooker ready to explode.

“That’s definitely odd,” he finally choked out.

“You don’t know anything about it?”

He shrugged, trying really hard to keep his promise to Liam and not lie to Raine. “Maybe it belongs to one of the other club members who used it in their play. Maybe it got caught up in the laundry and—”

“I found it in the bathroom, in one of Liam’s drawers with his toiletries.”

Oh, that bitch.Hammer really wished he could just kill Gwyneth. He’d be doing the world a big favor. “I don’t know for sure. Let’s talk to Liam about it tonight. I doubt he’s interested in making you his baby girl, not in that way.”

“Good.” She shoved it back in her pocket. “After my terrible relationship with my own father, I can’t imagine taking pleasure in playing with a man pretending to assume that role.”

That didn’t surprise Hammer at all. “We may be perverts, but I’ve never had any interest in little girls, pretend or otherwise. I wouldn’t touch you for how many years? I can’t imagine Liam feeling any differently.” At her halfhearted nod, he tapped a finger under her chin. “Smile.”

Raine tried, but her confusion bled through. Hammer wished he could say more to soothe her.

The waiter returned, setting down numerous plates teeming with pancakes, bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast. Hammer’s empty stomach demanded attention. He’d never realized how many calories sex consumed, and they’d had a lot of it in the past twelve hours.

The forty-something guy darted back with a fresh glass of orange juice for Raine. When Macen stopped eating to thank him, he noticed that she’d barely picked at her food. Concern gripped Hammer again.

“Eat up,” he encouraged. He would have ordered her if he’d thought it would do any good.

A painful fifteen minutes later, she’d barely consumed an egg and a piece of toast. Hammer had devoured most of his, but they still had a mountain of leftovers.

As the waiter cleared everything away, he excused himself and headed to the men’s room. When the door closed behind him, he dug out his phone and fired off a text to Liam.

Hammer:What’s your status? We’re heading back to the club. That ok? BTW, Raine found a pacifier. Guess who left that…

Pacing, he waited for a reply. Seconds passed to minutes. Growing more anxious and pissed off, Hammer clenched his teeth and texted Liam again.

Hammer: If you haven’t taken out the trash, keep the bag contained. I’ll tell Raine to nap. I’ll text you when she’s asleep. We’ll meet at bar.

“Fuck!” Hammer growled. He despised not knowing what was going on.

Shoving his phone away, he sucked in a couple of deep breaths. He had to keep his shit wired tight until Liam was ready to sit Raine down and talk.

Pasting on a smile, he returned to the table. Raine slouched in the booth, leaning her head against the wall.

“You’re exhausted,” Hammer murmured as he held out a hand to her. “We’re going back to the club, and I’m going to tuck you into bed.”

“I won’t argue with you,” she answered sleepily as she crawled out.

“There’s a first.”

She stood and glared. “Ha. Ha. Very funny.”

One of her acid smiles was better than no smile at all. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

“Will you nap with me?” she asked as they headed to the car.

He tangled his fingers with hers. “For a bit. But I still have a club to run.”

The sunlight shining on her face made her glow. Hammer couldn’t resist trailing a knuckle down her soft cheek or pressing his lips to hers.

“Mmm,” Raine purred as he pulled back. “I like you like this.”

“Like what?”

“Affectionate. Loving. Soft.”

“Trust me, precious. I’m not soft at the moment,” he teased as he glanced at the erection straining against his zipper.

“If we can stay awake long enough, maybe we should fix that.” She winked.

As many times as he’d turned Raine away in the past, Hammer didn’t think he could ever do it again. His days of denying how much he loved her were over. He just hoped that Gwyneth and her machinations didn’t turn Raine against him and Liam in the end.