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He wasn’t either, but he needed to be alert and keep up his strength. Not to mention his rigid schedule was about the only reliable thing in his life at the moment.
The pounding of the water against tile alerted him to the fact that Diamond had jumped under the shower spray and was no longer listening. He’s just order for her, and if she didn’t like what he ordered, she would have to deal.
Lunch was delivered thirty minutes later by Will, of course, and Diamond was still in the bathroom. Pax wasn’t about to wait, so he ate alone, a burger patty, topped with avocado and grilled onions wrapped in a lettuce leaf. He was dying for carbs, but it could wait. Tonight was Monday, and he would have his cheat day even if he had to eat in. Marzetta’s downstairs would deliver. They didn’t have a choice. It was one of the perks of being the boss.
Jason and the legal team arrived shortly thereafter. Diamond still hadn’t made an appearance.
The lawyers, Sid Colburn and Michael Jamison, had been with Pax since he opened the place, and with Jason before that. They were also patrons of Rojo occasionally, even though, to Pax’s knowledge, neither man had a kinky bone in his body.
They greeted him briefly and sat down, pulling out pens and briefcases and legal pads. All business.
“Give us the rundown.” It was Sid who spoke first—it was always Sid. Michael was the quiet, meek one of the two—until you got him in the courtroom. Then he was a piranha.
Jason took over, briefing them on the main points while Pax jumped in occasionally adding a detail or correcting Jase when necessary. Pax was much like Michael that way. Besides that, Jason had much more experience with legal matters, because he liked to toe the line whenever possible.
It took no time at all before they had a brief statement prepared. “How do you want to do this? Do you want to keep it wholly informal—just go out there on a whim, and whoever happens to catch it catches it—or do you want to set a time and notify some of the local stations?”
Sid looked out the window. “I think they are all out there anyway, but you can never be sure.”
“Let’s do it formally,” Jase jumped in before Pax had time to make a decision. “It helps to develop a false sense of trust between you and the press. That way, they start to think if there is anything more that needs to be said, you’ll tell them. I think we should set it up for late evening. We need time to assemble a good security detail and a safe line of escape afterwards. Pax needs to be able to get in, say what he needs to say, and get out.”
“Agreed,” Michael and Sid spoke as one.
The three of them seemed to know what they were doing much more than Pax did, so he was content to let them handle it. He didn’t want to bother with the stress of setting up the details. He would do the speaking, and that was it.
“Hey, Pax,” Diamond called out, skipping through the door into his office. She stopped short at the sight of the men and froze pulling at her soft yoga pants self-consciously. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know anyone was here.”
“You were in the shower,” he responded dryly, raising his eyebrows at her carefree attitude. Mentally, he added a spanking to his list of things to do tonight. Even if she didn’t need to receive it, he needed to give it. “Come meet my legal team.”
She extended her hand, and he quickly made the introductions, inviting her to join them at the table.
“Um, why do we need lawyers? Slander? Libel? Restraining orders? What’s going on?”
“None of that, not yet. They were helping me prepare a statement for the press release.”
“A press release,” she barked, looking a bit wild eyed. “About me?”
All four men nodded.
“Oh, hell no! Why wasn’t I consulted on this? It’s my life. I’m not about to let you go out there and exploit my mother’s death and the nitty gritty details of our relationship to a bunch of fucking vultures! No way, Jose. Not happening.”
Pax’s eyes went hard and dark, and she backed up as he advanced on her slowly. When he reached her, he gripped her elbow tightly enough to make her wince, but not tightly enough to do any actual harm. “Excuse me, gentlemen. We’ll be right back.”
He all but slammed the bedroom door behind them, and marched her straight up to the corner he had designated for naughtiness. One quick tug had her yoga pants around her ankles, and her panties with them.
“It might surprise you to hear this, sub, but not everything is about you.” His body pressed up hard against hers as he spoke softly but firmly in her ear. The room was soundproof, but he wasn’t taking any chances. “This happens to be a business decision. These people are upsetting the day to day operations here at Rojo. Not only are they loitering and not spending money, they are upsetting our paying customers and harassing our staff. We examined our options and this was the most streamlined plan of attack with the end result of hopefully getting them out of here quickly, feeling like they got something.” He paused, his hand moving to cup her bottom possessively as he spoke.
“Listen carefully, your safety and well-being is always at the forefront of my mind. In reality, they are not getting any new information that they do not already have. The lawyers are smart and they are careful, and they know how to write a God damn press release. The statement basically says, yes, you work here, yes we are dating. That’s it. The fact that you thought I would say anything else without at least running it by you first is, frankly, quite offensive. Besides that, you were very disrespectful in the way you spoke to me just now—in front of my friends and business associates no less. Because of that, you and I will be having a nice long discussion this afternoon. I think my friend Mr. Cane will be doing the talking. And until then, you will wait here, with your naughty bottom exposed thinking about the way you speak to me until I return. And we are still talking business, so it might be awhile.”
With that, he delivered a hard, rump shaking swat to her bare bottom, and left the room, not waiting for her response.
* * *
It was good that Pax hadn’t waited for her response, because she hadn’t planned on giving one. After a lecture like the one he had given, the yes sirs usually fell freely and often, but today, she was determined to begrudge him that small gift. She wasn’t feeling very submissive.
Tears pricked her eyeballs as she stood in the corner, fists balled at her sides in frustration. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this submissive thing after all. She seemed to constantly be in trouble for the same thing, and the lines of when certain things were appropriate and they weren’t seemed too blurry for her liking. And she hated that he would have made a decision about how to move forward in a crisis without at least asking what she thought. After all, she was the one who was experienced in dealing with paparazzi. He could have at least asked her opinion.
“To be fair,” she mentally argued with herself, “You were in the shower a really long time, and it is his place of business, and you should trust him. He has given you no good reason not to. Besides all that, you like being his sub. You like being called sub, you like being punished, you like the kinky sex, and the humiliation of it all. And he takes really good care of you, and he’s not perfect, and he’s obviously having a bad day. You’re not perfect either, and you’re not going to be great at every aspect of this submissive thing every night. Pax knows that. That’s why he punishes you, instead of getting angry. He knows you need practice and a tangible reminder to do better.”
