Tribal (my misery muse) Read online

  Tribal

  ( My Misery Muse )

  Brei Betzold

  Can a relationship based on secrets and half-truths really work? Or will someone end up getting hurt at the end?

  Ash has a job she loves, and amazing friends that support her. But she also has a secret relationship on the side. Is the relationship worth the heartache when the man she loves isn’t willing to trust her?

  Crispin can't win. Period. The woman he thought he loved went and married someone else to live the perfect life. His tattoo shop is in the red, and the relationship he thought he had is in jeopardy because he wasn’t willing to confide in his girl. Will he ever be able to do anything right?

  Tribal

  My Misery Muse Novella 2.5

  By Brei Betzold

  For my readers, without you this wouldn’t be possible.

  Prologue

  Ash

  I stood outside in the mild Texas winter watching Jaks run around the backyard while holding Cait. I knew the other girls were in the kitchen finishing up lunch, but I was on kid duty until Seth came back. Then I would go help, the sooner this was finished the sooner I could head out for my own evening. I looked around for Seth but still didn’t see him. The guys from the shop were sitting around the table drinking beers. Finally Seth showed up and I handed him Cait and took off quickly for the kitchen before I was detained by someone else.

  I walked into the kitchen to find Mags and Devi finishing up on the food that hadn’t been catered in. I jumped in, I really wanted to get out of here.

  “So how does it feel to be a married woman?” I asked Mags.

  “Weird.”

  Devi laughed and we razzed Mags over her impromptu wedding. I didn’t even notice Cris had walked into the kitchen until I felt his fingers slide across my ass. I went beet red and covertly glanced around hoping no one noticed. Cris and I had been dating or whatever we were doing for seven months now. We weren’t telling anyone yet, the relationship put us in a weird place. Me working for Devi and Devi working for Cris, it was just strange. Until we figured out what we were, I wasn’t interested in the drama it could potentially cause.

  I grabbed a stack of wicker plates and headed towards the dining room. It was decided we would just have lunch buffet style with the food in there, people could eat where they wanted. Cris and I had plans after lunch, while I was happy for Mags and Drake getting married, I would prefer to have spent the day alone with him. Though Devi had given me off the rest of the day after lunch and tomorrow. But I could work with the fact that Devi had given me the rest of the afternoon after lunch and tomorrow off.

  Finally after all the food was laid out, I went to corral Jaks so I could get him a plate before everyone else showed up.

  Cris

  I watched Ash nearly run out of the kitchen and smirked. I watched Mags and Devi walk out giving me a strange look, then I went out back in search of the guys. I found them on the back deck and sat down beside Max and listened to them bitch about clients.

  “Max, how’d that tat with the girl go last night?” I asked.

  He grimaced. “I tried talking her out of it.”

  I threw my head back and laughed. “No go?”

  He shook his head. “No, and of course once it was finished she was already regretting it.”

  “Regretting what?” Seth asked sitting down.

  “Eh some chick wanted her boyfriend’s name on her inside thigh,” he snorted. “As soon as it was done they were arguing.”

  “Kiss of death,” I said.

  “That it is.”

  Crack!

  “What the fuck?” Seth barked before jumping up and running inside. We were on his heels.

  I had to do a double take when I walked into the kitchen—Devi screaming, X bleeding on the floor, Cin crying and Eli pissed off. I shook my head at the scene and went in search of the food. They could deal with their own shit.

  Chapter 1

  Ashlen

  I watched as he rounded the bed to my other arm, gently taking it, running his fingers slowly over my skin before pulling it where he wanted it. I watched as he oh so carefully pulled the cuff around my wrist, rubbing his thumb across the sensitive skin, before finally buckling the unforgiving leather. I swallowed back a moan. I knew what was coming next, and I knew he would tease me with it until I was begging. I would beg for him eventually; I always ended up begging.

  He walked to the end of the bed and ran a finger from my knee to my ankle then slowly back again, I groaned at the sensations it left. Quick as a viper, he grabbed my ankle stretching it out and securing it with the third cuff, then grabbed the other leg and had it cuffed just as quickly. So there I lay, stretched out across his bed unable to hide a thing from his slow sweeping gaze, unable to move more than my fingers and toes. I knew he would never hurt me, but it was still a heady feeling to know that I had no control over the situation and he could do with me what he wanted.

  He ran a finger from my ankle up my leg, ghosting it across my skin causing me to break out in goose bumps. He stopped so close to the place I wanted him and looked up at my face giving me a wicked grin. Then continued running his finger up my side across my breast circling but never touching my nipple before moving on, stopping to run the back of his fingers across my neck. I couldn’t hold back the moan that escaped causing him to chuckle quietly before resuming his slow sensuous path up to my bottom lip where he gently rubbed back and forth with his thumb.

  I parted my lips and felt his thumb brush against my tongue, and I couldn’t resist on his next pass to swipe my tongue across his finger just for a taste of his skin. He removed his thumb from my mouth and glared down at me; clicked his tongue and shook his head. I knew I would pay for that transgression and I knew I would love every minute of it.

  He walked back to his chest of toys and started rifling through it for what he needed then turned back around and looked at me; he smirked then turned back around grabbing what he wanted. I closed my eyes, I couldn’t continue to watch him looking at items he planned to use to tease me to distraction with, knowing he wouldn’t let me cum until he was ready.

  I felt his fingers brush against my lips and I parted them. He used his thumb and forefinger against my jaw to force it open further, and then positioned a ball gag in place. He placed a hand on the back of my neck and I raised my head so he could strap it in place. I ran my tongue against the ball in my mouth, wetting it, feeling the smooth surface and whimpered. I opened my eyes to look at him and saw him looking down at me with lust in his eyes, and I felt my pussy clench. He smirked knowing exactly what he was doing to me. Then he reached down putting the blindfold over my eyes and securing it in place. He reached over and placed an item in my hand; I knew what it was. It was a riding crop, the one he always used when he took speech away from me. I also knew that all I had to do to stop everything that was happening was let go of it, and he would halt everything.

  I gasped when I felt something brush against my skin, then I heard footsteps and knew he was walking away. I heard the clank of his belt the soft zzzzzr sound of his zipper and whimpered around the gag. The thump of his shoes hitting the floor caused a tremor to run down my spine that sound shortly followed by clothes hitting the ground. I knew my senses were on overdrive now that I couldn’t see him, and I knew it would make all of this that much sweeter. The whispering sound of fabric indicated his shirt was now off as well and I could picture him standing there slowly stroking his large cock watching me, knowing he was driving me mad with anticipation.

  I heard footsteps again this time coming closer and I couldn’t wait for what he had planned. I didn’t have to wait long. I felt something tickle my nose and jerked my hands to move it away, only I could
n’t. I heard a deep chuckle; I knew he was enjoying this, toying with me. The tickling sensation moved down my cheek across my throat to my chest where it paused, then oh so slowly to the underside of my breast. I whimpered wanting more, more touch, more sensation, more him. He slowly ran the soft tickling item around my breast over and over, my nipple beading tighter until it was almost painful. When he had almost reached it, he stopped and switched to the other breast starting all over again.

  I gasped when he reached down pinching my nipple hard. I cried out when he increased the pressure, all at the same time teasing the other breast with the distracting tickling sensation. All at once, it all stopped and I mewled around the gag wanting it to return, wanting the sensations back. I clutched the handle of the crop in my hand, digging my nails into the leather waiting for him to do something, anything.

  I felt the tickling sensation again at the bottom of my feet and my back arched as much as it could with my bindings. It continued up and around my ankle, slowly gliding over my calf to the back of my knee and I moaned loudly. He continued teasing me on my outer thigh then across my stomach to my ribs, where he slowly ran the object up to my arm. I was writhing on the bed with the soft slow sensations, everything was tingling and my pussy was fluttering, wanting to be filled, fucked as only he could.

  Everything stopped and I heard his feet slowly padding across the floor away from the bed, I whined at the sense of loss I felt. I could feel the rough sensation of fabric against my back as I tried to follow his footsteps, my skin was oh so sensitive by the light play. I heard him walking back towards me and the bed dipped as he climbed beside me, I could smell his musky scent and tried to press my thighs together but the binds held strong.

  Heat encompassed my nipple and I screamed behind the gag as he bit down on the nipple and I could feel my liquids trickle down the crack of my ass. He released it just as quickly as he had started and I whined a high pitiful whine not wanting him to stop. He ran his hands up my throat calming me, letting me know he was still there with me. The back of his hands slid down my throat between my breasts over my stomach towards the place where my body needed his touch, his attention the most. He brushed his hand across me and my back arched, my toes curled and I couldn’t breathe. He ran a finger slowly over my slit and made a low sound in the back of his throat when he felt just how wet I was for him.

  I felt his warm breath on my ear just—just breathing in and out and my eyes rolled back in my head. His hand continued the barely there touch over my slit, just putting enough pressure to let me know it was there. He sucked my earlobe into his mouth and bit down gently; I moaned out my pleasure and he released it after a gentle suck.

  “I’m going to fuck you now,” he whispered. “Would you like that?”

  I nodded my head, wanting nothing more than to feel him buried as deep as possible inside me.

  “I’m going to fuck you so hard, so deep, but you’re not to cum until I tell you to, are you, Ashlen?”

  I shook my head. I knew I wasn’t allowed to orgasm until he said, but I needed the reminder at that point.

  He took his hands off me and I felt the bed move, then the telltale sound of a condom wrapper being ripped open. I shuddered in anticipation; I wanted his long hard cock in me desperately. The bed dipped again and I felt his heat covering me. Then he nuzzled into my neck—licking, sucking, biting; I could only moan around the ball in my mouth. Then with a quick motion he was balls deep, my body convulsed but I held back the orgasm—barely. Just as swiftly, he had pulled out and thrust harder into me, it was almost painful and I loved it. I wanted to run my hands down his back, scratch him, pull him closer but I couldn’t move, all I could do is lay there and let him do as he pleased.

  He continued to thrust in and out of me with such force that if I wasn’t bound I would have been sliding up the bed. He murmured a reminder to me yet again that I wasn’t allowed to cum, but I wanted to. It was right there waiting on his command, my walls kept gripping him, not wanting him to leave my body and yet he continued to drive into me roughly. I moaned, whimpered, and would have begged if I could have and yet he continued to plunge in to me so deliciously hard and fast.

  I don’t know how long he fucked me, keeping me so close to an orgasm that I knew would be earth shattering. I kept fighting to keep from coming, holding it back for his command; I desperately needed that command. When he finally whispered come against my ear, I exploded around him, my body convulsed, I screamed and he continued to fuck me. There were spots behind my eyes and I thought I was going to pass out from the intensity of my orgasm. I finally heard him groan and shudder with the force of his own orgasm.

  Cris

  We lay together through the aftershocks. I kept touching and kissing her softly helping her comedown. Finally, I slowly pulled out of her body and stood, quickly taking care of the condom then gently removing the ball gag and blindfold. She worked her jaw while I went to uncuff her from the bed. I lay down beside her and eased her to her back so I could rub her arms and legs, helping ease any of the discomfort from being bound. I trailed kisses down her spine, just letting her know I was there with her. She moaned and I ran my tongue back up her spine and watched her shudder.

  I moved all of her glorious long gold hair out of the way and kissed up her neck until I reached the hollow behind her ear and sucked. She groaned and dug her fingers into the pillow.

  “You sure you don’t want to move in with me, Ash?” I watched her hazel eyes narrow, her soft features pinch. I ran my hand through her sweaty blonde hair hoping but knowing I wouldn’t be getting the answer I wanted.

  Chapter 2

  Ash

  I sat out on Cris’s back porch with a cold beer watching a storm slowly roll in. The black clouds looked menacing especially when the sunny sky of the afternoon was still shining bright side by side with the storm clouds. I sighed, only in Texas did you see skies like this—where you can literally have both seventy degree weather beside fifty degree storm clouds in the same neighborhood. I glanced over and watched Cris walk outside with me. I knew we were going to have the same argument that we had lately, and I really didn’t want to. That’s why I walked out of the bedroom when he asked me to move in again.

  “So you ever going to answer me?”

  “Do I have to?” I asked looking over at him. He really was gorgeous with his short dark hair, dark brown eyes that were almost black, his tattooed arms and chest were showing since all he had thrown on was a pair of jeans. His chest was a work of art that led down to abs made for licking that tapered down to that perfect V. Damn, he was gorgeous, and he was mine, and would be mine for good if I could give him what he wanted.

  “It would be nice.”

  “I can’t move in with you right now.”

  “Why not?”

  “You know why not, we had this discussion last week.”

  “Yeah, we did.”

  “So you know why I can’t move in with you.”

  “I love Devi, just like you do, and I love her kids, but Ash you can’t give your life up for them.”

  “I’m not giving my life up, I am doing my job.”

  “And you can do your job and not live there.”

  “They need me.”

  “I need you.”

  “Cris, you don’t understand what they are going through right now.”

  “Yeah I do. I talk to her daily. I know exactly what she’s going through.”

  “Then you know why I can’t leave right now.”

  “All right, what about when Seth comes back from tour?”

  “What about it?”

  “They are taking a break after the tour is over. Talked to Sam about it yesterday; he says probably a year or so.”

  “Okay?”

  “Okay, so I understand not wanting to leave them while Seth’s on tour, because yeah, Devi needs you most then, but after?”

  “I can’t just leave them like that.”

  “I’m not saying quit, I am saying just
not live there anymore.”

  “And if it’s a live here or get fired what then?”

  “It won’t be.”

  “You know that for a fact?”

  “I know Devi.”

  “It’s my job. I agreed to be a live-in nanny from the beginning.”

  “Yeah, but that was before me.”

  “There wasn’t a well until I meet someone condition in my contract.”

  “You signed a contract?”

  “Yep.”

  “And the contract said you had to live there?”

  “Don’t remember.” I knew there was a non-disclosure along with some other contracts I signed to help protect them from the press, and I couldn’t blame them for it.

  “You don’t remember?”

  “Nope.” I really didn’t want to get into this with him again, but I knew he wasn’t going to let it go until he got what he wanted.

  “So why not look through it and see if it does?”

  “Because I like living there.”

  “You like it more than being with me?”

  “No, that’s not what I said. I said I like living there. I like the way things are going with us as they are now.”

  “We’ve been together for eight months and no one knows about us, Ash, you’re okay with that too?”

  “No, I am not okay with that,” I told him. “I’ve been thinking about this, let’s tell everyone this weekend at the bar-be-que.”

  “What bar-be-que?”

  I sighed then glared at him. “Do you ever listen to me?”

  “Yes, I listen to you, sometimes.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Devi is having a bar-be-que this weekend for I think, Max’s birthday. Hell, I don’t remember.”

  “Fine, you want to tell them this weekend, we’ll tell them this weekend,” he grumbled.

  I smiled over at him. “Good, now let’s stop fighting and enjoy our day off.”