Page 94 of Gambler's Conceit

Caleb’s expression softens. “No need to worry about that. Havoc and I have it covered. You can be his kind, soft Daddy.”

“No one has ever called me kind or soft before,” I mutter.

But he’s not wrong. That’s what I want to be for Seven.

“Okay. I’ll talk to them.” I nod to him, then leave his office.

The door to Seven’s room is closed, and I knock gently before letting myself in.

Havoc is sitting up against the headboard of the bed, and Seven’s head is in his lap. Seven’s eyes open, and he looks warily up at me, even as Havoc continues to card his fingers through Seven’s hair.

“Hey,” I say roughly, mostly to Havoc.

“Hi,” Havoc says. “Do I need to help carry Caleb’s body into the wasteland?”

My eyes linger on Seven, who’s squirming under the blankets, and I shake my head. “No. I…” I clear my throat, telling myself to stop being such a fucking pussy. “Seven, do you think you can handle a punishment?”

Seven’s eyes open, and he starts to sit up. Havoc’s fingers tighten in his hair, though, keeping him in place.

“What do you mean, a punishment?” Havoc asks sharply.

“You and I will talk later,” I tell him, even though I really have no idea what I’ll say to him. “But for now…” I clear my throat.

“I want a punishment,” Seven says. “I deserve to be punished.”

There’s something about the way he says it that breaks my heart. I know he gets off on pain, but he doesn’t sound like he wants this for the sexual gratification. He earnestly believes that he should get punished for… for cheating on us—Caleb—whoever. I don’t even know what kind of an arrangement we have.

Havoc grips Seven’s hair and forces him to look up. “You don’tdeserveto get punished. But if you want to get hurt… yeah, Caleb’s the right guy for that.”

“You have to learn to come to one of us when you’re feeling off-balance,” I tell Seven, then glance back at Havoc. “And if youdon’t…” My words briefly catch in my throat. “You have to learn to be safe. He didn’t have a condom on. No one knew where you were.”

Seven scowls at me. “Then how’d you find me so fast?” he demands.

“We got lucky,” I say. It hadn’t been lucky so much as it had been minor detective work, but Seven doesn’t need to know that. “So next time—” My throat threatens to close around the words. “Next time you want to get hurt, you go to Havoc, or you call me and tell me where you’re going.”

“I don’t have a phone,” Seven points out.

I stare at him, unimpressed. “There are only about a hundred employees you could ask to tell me or Caleb or even Havoc that you need to talk to us.”

Havoc rolls Seven onto his other side and points at the bedside table. One of the hotel phones is sitting on it, along with a bright pink post-it. “Seven, I left you my phone number. Or you could have dialed zero to reach the front desk, and they would have been able to connect you to Caleb.”

Seven scowls at us, sitting up and pulling away from Havoc. “What if I don’t want to?”

“Then you’re going to get punished, and one of these days, it will not be a punishment you want to get,” I tell him as steadily as I can manage. “You’re going to get someone else hurt, or maybe Calebwon’thurt you.”

Seven’s expression morphs into terror. “I’ll be good! I promise. You don’t have to lock me up.”

I stride across the room, quickly closing the distance between us. Ignoring Havoc, I wrap my arm around Seven. “You have to stop hurting yourself like this, Seven,” I say as gently but firmly as possible. “No one wants to lock you up. We want to let you wander around and meet people and hang out with Della and the others. But you’ve got to start being—” I almost saysmart, butthat feels cruel. “Safe,” I say instead. I glance at Havoc. “You’ll be there if he needs you.”

It isn’t a question.

Havoc meets my gaze and nods. “I will. Iam. I’m here for Seven, not you or Caleb.”

“Good,” I say. If he thinks that’s going to bother me, he’s wrong. “And now, it’s time for both of us to be here for Seven while Caleb reminds him that wearehere for him.”

Havoc rubs a tear from the corner of Seven’s eye. “Okay. You ready for whatever that asshole has for you?”

Seven nods. “I’ll be good,” he says softly, swallowing hard as he looks between us—then beyond me, at the door, where Caleb is now waiting. “I promise.”