His expression went carefully blank. “I don’t know.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. Bennett didn’t give me much of a chance to react, barrelling on with his next question. “Why did you come here, if your parents warned you away from Felix?”
He was trading my weighted question for one of his own. There was no way for me to truthfully answer that without going into details about my lack of a job and the reason why. My face preemptively flamed from the shame over losing my job, even though it hadn’t been through any fault of my own. His bushy eyebrow cocked up, body relaxing back into the cushions as he waited for my answer.
“I was out of other options. My job replaced me with a higher-ranking mage, and I couldn’t find anything that paid well enough to live in Asteria. A place to live was what I desperately needed, so the unexpected inheritance felt like a blessing being dropped into my lap. I didn’t take the time to consider my parents hadn’t been overreacting about his eccentricities.”
My rash decision would haunt me for the rest of my life, and I would be my normal level of cautious at all times from now on. Then again, had I been cautious in this house? No. I’d slept with the prisoners while knowing little about them, but this didn’t feel like the real world. Not when they would remember nothing.
“Why are you so dominant with Waylon?”
He’d softened at my explanation of my predicament, so I saw surprise flicker across his unguarded expression when I asked. “How do you know about that?”
“Call it a gut feeling,” I said, giving my same vague explanation.
I expected him to question me about my ‘gut feelings’, but he didn’t. Bennett wasn’t perturbed by the topic change, and even relaxed into it. He would have been expecting me to ask more about his life, but I was done being serious. Twenty questions was the game to play when you wanted to get saucy, right?
“I’m dominant with everyone,” he said.
Placing his arm behind his head, he relaxed. The movement drew my gaze up his body, the tight torso and that damn bare skin at the hem of his shirt. He smirked, flashing sharp canines.
“I take my dominant side farther with Waylon because he likes it. He’s a bratty sub and punishment is his favourite way to get off.”
That memory flashed through my mind, the one I couldn’t get rid of. Waylon speared on both ends by huge cocks, Bennett’s big hand holding his hair with a painful grip. The pixie had been a mess, but euphoric. My breathing picked up, and for once my near-hyperventilation wasn’t from panic, but pleasure.
“Would you enjoy me being dominant with you too, Hadley?” Bennett asked.
I curled my legs up to my chest and opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out. I’d started this, yet I was the flustered one. Why had I started this, again? “That’s my question for this round, so I expect an answer,” he said when a few beats had passed.
“I don’t know,” I admitted finally. “I prefer being in control because it keeps me from panicking over what’s happening.”
It also kept me from needing to trust another person fully, but I wouldn’t mention that.
“But I’m… intrigued. What is being submissive like?”
“I wouldn’t know, birdie. I’ve never been submissive in my life. You should ask Waylon about it.”
“He would only give me a snarky answer,” I said. “Why did you call me birdie?”
“You’re asking a whole lot of questions, and I think it’s my turn,” he said with a grin.
His body shifted closer on the couch, and heat was radiating from every inch, making me ultra aware of his presence. “Those didn’t count as questions,” I said.
My voice was strained, and I fought the urge to move. I couldn’t tell if I wanted to move closer or farther away, and I was determined not to find out.
“That’s not the rule of the game. You asked a question. It’s my turn. Tell me why you started this line of questioning, because I have a guess. You’re attracted to me, aren’t you? And you wanted me to tell you that I’m attracted to you too.”
“Me being attracted to you is obvious. You caught me staring when you walked in.”
I didn’t mention how I already knew he was attracted to me. He’d been clear enough during the threesome I’d walked in on.
“Answer the question, birdie.”
The nickname made my heart flutter, similar to when Kirin called me princess. “Fine. I was done with the heavy questions, and wanted to change the game,” I said.
“To kinky questions? You don’t seem like the bold type.”
“My boldness comes and goes.”
