Learning to Love & Submit

by Eileen Green

  The silence between the two of them was palpable. Sound was going on all around them. People speaking. The cracks of whips. Squeals of delight or pain. Thuds of floggers. Sex. They all faded into the background as Thomas and Gerard stared at each other.

  Ludicrous. That was what the plan was, but if Carrie continued to fight them on driving, he had to protect her. It was his job as her Dom, her lover, and her friend.

  “I hate the idea,” Gerard finally said as he glanced over at Carrie and then back to Thomas. “She will kill us if she finds out, you know. Or worse. She could walk away.”

  Thomas nodded. “I know. But she must know it would be for her own good. I know it’s too soon, but I love her, Gerard. I love you, too, and I would do anything to protect you both.”

  Again, Gerard was at a loss for words. Had Thomas jumped the gun with his admission? God, he hoped not.

  Gerard reached out and grasped Thomas’s hand as tears shimmered in his emerald-green eyes unashamedly. “I love you, too, Thomas. You and Carrie have become my life. I would hate to have something happen to either of you. Do what you need to do to keep our woman safe.”

  “I will.” Thomas’s heart was soaring. Now he had to hear those words from one other person. “We will. Can you ask Shane to come and take care of Carrie’s car while she’s in class?”

  “Sure. I know she’ll be working Friday night while we work here. It’ll give me peace of mind knowing she’s safe.”

  That was set. That gave Thomas some peace to his nerves so he would be able to address his job for the night. He knew where both his lovers were and that they were both safe.

  * * * *

  Carrie loved the class. She took notes and asked questions even though some of them had already been addressed by Thomas and Gerard. They were quick to answer her inquiries, but hearing them from someone else’s perspective was beneficial also. Tonight, part of the class was addressed by a gentleman named Felix. He was a Dom and worked as an EMT and firefighter. He was there to teach them about first aid and the administering of aftercare.

  That there was care for a sub after a scene spoke wonders of a Dom. Some subs didn’t require or want aftercare. Sometimes when a sub was topped by someone at the club for a scene with a whip or a flogging, or even a suspension, they didn’t get aftercare from the Top. There were uncollared subs at the club who could help in that situation.

  Carrie was also impressed with the club’s stance on all things safety. Several members were doctors and nurses, and Felix’s partner at work was the assistant manager of the club’s sub. The volunteer dungeon monitors had first aid training also. If anything should happen, there were plenty of people around to help.

  There were only two other people who had come back from the first week beside Carrie. Mistress Eliza had informed them it was par for the course as a lot of people were not cut out for this lifestyle.

  After class was over, Carrie waited around for Thomas and Gerard to end their evenings, which was another four hours later. She sat herself down on the couch in the aftercare space near the men’s locker room and took in all that was going on around her.

  People eyed her as they moved to and fro to scene spaces or the locker rooms. Some even found their way to the food area. Several men ogled her which drew Thomas’s evil eye. She was dressed conservatively, not like any of the other woman at the club, so she didn’t understand why men would be looking at her.

  She got nervous when a trio moved in to stand in front of her. She looked up at the tallest man she had ever seen who stood on one side of a petite woman with long black hair. The third in the little group was a man who stood nearly a half foot shorter than the first man. He had sandy-colored hair that was short and spiky, and he had the most intriguing greenish-gray eyes. Both men were muscular and seemed to stand sentinel for the woman between them.

  Both men wore blue jeans, and the first man was wearing black boots whereas the other was barefoot. Neither one wore a shirt which showcased their chiseled chests and shoulders, and their six-packs. The shorter man wore a black leather collar on his neck as did the woman, but hers was more dainty. Since the tallest man didn’t have a collar, Carrie recognized him as the Dom of the three.

  Thomas hadn’t collared Carrie or Gerard yet, something she hoped he did soon, but she wore a wristband that had the club’s logo on it which was to let everyone know that she belonged to the Tiger’s Lair while she attended the class.

  “Hello,” the tall man said, his voice deep and sexy. “We’re friends of Thomas. Do you mind if we sit with you for a while?”

  Carrie glanced over at Thomas to see if he was watching. He was, and he gave a slight nod to indicate it was all right. She looked back up at the man and smiled. “Sure.”

  The woman, who was wearing a short black halter top dress and no shoes, sat next to Carrie. The tall blond man sat on the other couch that was at a ninety-degree angle, so he was to Carrie’s right. The other man folded his legs and sat on the floor at the other man’s feet.

  “I’m Shane Owens,” the big guy said. “I served with Thomas in the Navy. I am also Gerard’s boss.” He motioned toward his woman and said, “This is Clara, and this is Jeremy.” He rubbed Jeremy’s hair affectionately.

  Jeremy looked at Shane lovingly, the same way Gerard looked at Thomas. Clara looked at the men with admiration and love though her cheeks flushed.

  “There is no protocol at the moment,” Shane went on to say, and just like that, Clara and Jeremy smiled at Carrie.

  Extending his hand to Carrie, Jeremy said, “Hello, Carrie. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Carrie accepted his hand and shook it. “Hello, Jeremy.”

  “Hi.” Clara seemed shy as she turned towards Carrie. “I heard you were new to all this also.”

  That Clara had begun with that statement was a blessing to Carrie. She perhaps had someone else to talk to who was probably overwhelmed by all this at the beginning. Smiling, Carrie gave a small snort.

  “Yeah. Even with the class and the guys helping me learn, I’m still confused and lost. Like right now. Shane said no protocol and you two”—Carrie gestured towards Jeremy as she spoke—“physically relaxed.”

  “When we’re out in the mainstream public, we don’t have protocol. We’re vanilla. Shane is my boyfriend, and Jeremy a close friend, because vanilla people don’t understand our lifestyle, and we don’t want to freak them out. When we’re here, which is more like home than public, we have protocol,” Clara began explaining.

  Jeremy took over, although he remained on the floor, Shane’s hand still caressing the man’s short spikey hair. “Here, we are our Dom’s subs. We don’t mind that our friends see us that way, because many of them are the same way. We’re basically a big family here, so why act differently? It is up to our Dom to determine whether we are in protocol. Sometimes, at friends’ homes, we’ll be in protocol because there may be play going on, but sometimes not. It all depends on what Shane wants of us, and we follow along.”

  Carrie thought about what was said for a moment, trying to absorb it. She understood what they were saying. However, Jeremy was still sitting on the floor beside Shane’s legs. Clara was sitting next to her and had even turned towards Carrie, her leg bent on the couch.

  “Why are you still sitting on the floor, then?” Carrie asked, her cheeks flaming with her bold question.

  Jeremy wrapped an arm around Shane’s leg and continued to smile. “I have a very stressful job. I find I operate well on a day-to-day basis when I have grounding. Rules. I know I can be more relaxed than I am now, but I am content when I am next to my Dom. I need this lifestyle to take me out of my head. Being this way makes me think about my actions and thoughts and keeps me grounded. Sometimes I can be a bit flighty and reckless.”

  Carrie could understand how Jeremy processed his everyday life. Many of her clients paid her to get them out of their head, to reveal their scattered thoughts. She herself had discovered that when she was with Thomas in a sub cap
acity, he made her think about her actions and she was more focused.

  She nodded. “I get it. I don’t think I want to be as strict on myself as you are, but I do like the person I am around Thomas and Gerard. I can let go but be more focused.” Did that sound as lame to them as it did to her?

  “Right?” Jeremy blurted out before he hung his head, shaking it as he did so. Carrie didn’t see anything wrong with what he had done. Then he looked back up at her and his voice softened. “Sorry. Forgot where we were for a moment. That’s why I need structure.”

  Carrie realized some people had glanced their way with Jeremy’s one-word outburst. She had forgotten too that loud voices shouldn’t occur in the main room so as not to distract the people participating in scenes.

  “It’s okay, pet. Just remember where you are in the future.” Shane petted the back of Jeremy’s head and neck as he spoke, but he was looking at Clara.

  Knowing Thomas considered Shane as one of his best friends, Carrie knew she could talk openly with these people.

  “See. That is exactly what I’m worried about. There are so many rules to remember. I’m afraid I’m going to screw up,” Carrie admitted. “How do you guys deal with that?”

  Carrie couldn’t believe that Jeremy could turn any rosier, but he did as he said, “Well, what I just did was common sense and remembering the rules. It’s like school, or a job. You have an inside voice and an outside one. In here, while scenes are going on, your inside voice has to have an inner-inside voice. The only time we talk normally is before or after the club is open.”

  “A lot of times you have to think about what you are doing,” Clara took over. “Is it something that would please your Dominant? Is it something you would normally do to begin with? What’s wrong, what’s right. It’s like Jeremy said—this is a new kind of job for you, or even a spouse. You are trying to please your Dominant. If he has rules, are you going to deliberately disobey? Are you going to embarrass him in public? It will eventually become second nature to you, but we all make mistakes. We all do things without thinking. In the long run, you want to do your best to uphold your Dominant’s image and avoid discipline. Just like you don’t want to disappoint your boss at work.”

  Understanding struck Carrie. Clara and Jeremy explained it just right. Before now, Carrie feared she wouldn’t be able to do this because she was so disciplined in her life. She had to be, but now, Thomas and Gerard were giving her a new way of living, a way that would allow her to relax and have fun.

  She let her gaze slide over to Thomas who was watching a scene intently. He was very dominant but giving. He had offered to protect her. To love her. To help her discover a new way to live her life without being so uptight. Was she going to be able to accept all he and Gerard were willing to give?

  Her body and mind relaxed with the decisions that she made in an instant. She knew she needed this. Otherwise, she was going to be an uptight OCD-led person forever. She would drown in her work and never find a man that would make her happy enough to let go. She was in love with Thomas and Gerard, and she needed the lifestyle they wanted to share with her.

  Directing her gaze back to her new friends, she asked, “So, what do you guys do for a living?”

  As Clara told Carrie about her job, Shane stood and stepped over to Thomas, leaving the three new friends to talk.

  * * * *

  “The deed has been done.” Shane pulled the folding chair closer to Thomas’s side. “Hopefully there’ll be no need, but if we need to track her car, we can.”

  Thomas never took his eyes off the scene in kitchen play space. A man lay face up on the table, naked. His hands and feet were shackled to the legs, and his head hung off the edge. A plastic cage held the man’s cock and balls, making them painful in his arousal but not letting him be able to become stiff.

  The Dom was the reason Thomas kept his attention on the scene. He had been banned for six months and was just off his month-long refresher class. The man had been topping a young woman, doing a whipping scene. The woman began calling ‘red,’ but the Dom continued to whip her. Before Thomas and another dungeon monitor could get to her, her back was bloody, and she was crying so hard her further cries of help were muffled.

  A doctor, who belonged to the club, was in attendance that night, thankfully, and he fixed her up. He made house calls for the next week to make sure she was all right. The two began a relationship, and now the woman doesn’t have to worry about getting an asshole Dom like who she had scened with. The Dom was punished and would be watched carefully as he was still on probation.

  Being the dungeon monitor, Thomas could divide his attention, so he was able to talk to Shane without turning his gaze towards him.

  “I’m glad. I don’t want to lose her. Or Gerard.”

  A chuckle sounded from Shane. “Sounds like you’re in deep,” the big man said with amusement.

  “Just like you are, buddy. Just like you.”

  The scene Thomas was watching broke up, the Dom releasing his sub and helping him to his feet.

  “She’s a nice girl,” Shane observed. “And, she’s very interested. Right now, she’s grilling Clara and Jeremy because she’s afraid she’s going to screw up.”

  “Just like every new person to this lifestyle. But I’m glad she’s relaxing and trying to find her way. Eliza is a godsend with the classes. Plus she has taken Carrie under her wing.” Thomas would always be thankful to the woman for bringing Carrie to the club. “Carrie even reports to her every day.”

  “That’s good.” Shane released a loud audible sigh. “It would be so nice Eliza could find herself someone that’ll make her happy. She deserves it.”

  Mistress Eliza had her past, just like everyone else, but hers was sad. She didn’t talk about it, and some of the club members, including the entire Tiger’s team, knew about it. But Thomas felt as if she needed to move on and try to find happiness.

  Shane stood. “Well, we weren’t intending to come tonight, but since we’re here, we’re going to play. Good luck. You know she’s going to be pissed if she finds out.”

  “I know. But I’d rather have her safe. Thanks for doing that.”

  “Of course,” Shane said as he walked back to his subs.

  Glancing over at Carrie, Thomas saw she was a bit sad as the threesome wandered away, but Thomas would reassure her later that she would see a lot of them in the future. He returned his attention to the other aftercare area to make sure the Dom and sub were doing okay from the scene he had been watching.

  It was going to be a long couple of hours before he could be with Carrie and Gerard, but this was his job. He knew Carrie had brought a book with her to keep her busy.

  Another minute ticked by, and then pandemonium broke loose when an alarm sounded near the food area and the stairs.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Damn it! What the hell is this place?

  As soon as the alarm began to blare, he took off running toward the back of the building. He had left his car on the next street over after staking out the front for four hours. He had hoped to nab the bitch when she came out, but it didn’t look like she was going to be leaving any time soon. So, he decided on a different approach, yet that seemed like it had failed too.

  He had lost his kids, and he couldn’t even grab the lady doctor to teach her a lesson. What did he have left?

  Leaping through bushes and running across a parking lot, he finally made it to his car. He couldn’t lose that for it was his home also. That’s how far he had sunk.

  He jumped inside and took off just as two large security guards ran into the lot. That was too close!

  Dr. Carrie Newton was a very lucky woman, but he would find a way to get to her. She would pay for him landing at rock bottom. What he couldn’t figure out was why she had two men escorting her places, and why she was holed up in a warehouse.

  He had to wonder if she was working a third job. There were no signs on the building indicating what kind of business it was, but the
re were security guards at the front desk, so obviously it was a business.

  The thought of trying to go in had crossed his mind a few hours ago, but he held off. Some of the people going inside were dressed oddly. Leather, dresses, heels, and work boots. An odd combination that had him racking his brain for what kind of business it was.

  Now, he wouldn’t find out. However, he would get his hands on her, one way or another. She had to pay for wrecking his life. Then, he would start to live again, just somewhere else.

  * * * *

  His heart jumped into his throat as the alarm sounded. Jumping from the desk, Gerard took off out of the room and then out of the building. He nearly tripped over Chad as the man was making his way to the front doors. Rushing out into the bitterly cold night, both men ran around the building hoping to catch the possible intruder close by.

  Running footsteps sounded in the quiet night, getting further away from Gerard. He ran in the direction they were coming from, but as they entered the parking lot a block and a half away, he saw the run-down car speed away. It was too far away to get a license number, so that was a bust.

  He and Chad stood for a moment trying to catch their breaths as the cold air had constricted their lungs and throats. Footsteps coming up behind them rapidly slowed down and then stopped. Chad turned first then Gerard. Shane and Alex McDaniel were now standing before them, both slightly out of breath.

  Gerard didn’t panic this time. This was something that could have been foreseen, and it was, but not all matters could be resolved, and he knew that. He could at least acknowledge their unsuccess.

  “Hey, sorry, Shane. He had too much of a lead on us.” Gerard spoke in between deep breaths.

  Shane nodded along with Alex. Alex was the one who spoke. “Hopefully it was just a kid.”

  “Let’s go check the tapes,” Shane said, straightening his vest. He had to be cold since he wasn’t wearing a shirt beneath the leather garment.