She pulled a teapot off the back eye of her stove and put it on a cast iron trivet on the table. “I’m going to have some tea before we start loading everything up. I need a few final moments of calm. Want to join me? I have real honey to sweeten it.”
I sat across from her, where she already had a teacup and saucer set out for me. “I’d love to join you.”
She handed me a teabag and she put hers into her cup. I followed suit, and then she poured hot water into both cups. Two items matching our cups were between us, and I assumed they held the cream and sugar. A honey bear squeeze bottle was beside them, so I figured neither of us would be using the sugar. I’ve never done a formal tea, so I followed her motions to put the honey in, stir well, and then finally pour some cream in.
And it was better than I expected. Really, really good.
“Wow. I had no idea tea could be this good when it’s hot with honey and cream.”
“It’s an excellent Earl Grey base.”
I had no idea what that meant, but I didn’t want to talk about the tea. “Are you ready to tell me about your day?”
“Several teammates came over last night to help with the final baking, and to individually wrap the items we’ll sell at the concession stand. Towards the end, we did some tequila shots. Burn and her girlfriend stayed longer, and we kind of all got shitfaced, so I put them in the murphy bed in the living room, and I went to bed.”
I grinned. “Damn. I was kinda hoping you were going to tell me about a threesome.”
She shook her head. “Able made me do girls sometimes, but it isn’t my thing.” She rolled her eyes. “Damn, and there I go again, fucking talking about him.”
“No, you aren’t talking about him. You’re telling me about your own past experience. If you want to say you had a Top who made you do girls sometimes, you can, but we’ll both know who you’re talking about. It honestly doesn’t bother me.”
“Well, it bothers me, and I’m not even to the part where I was expecting to have to mention him.” She took another sip of tea and closed her eyes to enjoy it on the way down. That’s one of the things I love about her — no matter what she’s doing, she does it. Skating, having sex, doing homework, or drinking tea. She has no attention deficits. At all.
“Okay, so, I came downstairs before they expected me to this morning, and I now know way more about their private life than I probably should. They didn’t stop just because I was there, but they paused when they finished that, ummm, task? And then later, went to the bathroom to finish, only the bathroom isn’t soundproof and I could hear every word they said, and they did something I had no idea people did. I thought that Ab—” She took a breath. “I thought my former Dom had made me experience everything possible when it comes to sex. I was wrong. Damn, was I wrong. And this thing they did, it’s kinky, and part of me wonders what it would feel like, but the rational parts of me are all like, fuck no, that ain’t happenin’.”
“And the ethical parts of you are trying to tell me about your day without telling me exactly what Burn did to her girlfriend, but you have to know the story is worthless without the details.” I shrugged. “I’ve already noted that Burn’s the top and her girlfriend is a service submissive. She’s actually submissive to the entire team. She keeps ya’ll organized, she runs and gets things for all of you when you need something, and she tries to anticipate what you’ll need ahead of time, so it’s already there for you. But it’s more than that. She finds pleasure in being of service.”
She stared at me a good fifteen seconds before finally saying, “Fuck. How did I not see that?”
I merely grinned at her, and she shook her head. “Burn was using her belt when I came down. That thick black leather one she wears with jeans? Not terribly hard when I first arrived, but enough it had to hurt. Red ass, not pink. She gave her another thirty or so strikes after I came down, and the last ten were brutal. I have no idea how many she gave her before I showed up.”
“Not at all surprised. What did you overhear in the bathroom?”
She made her voice sound submissive and pleading. “Oh, Amy. Not the Icy Hot. Please not the Icy Hot. I’m sorry! Please don’t!” She took another sip of tea. “From what I gather, it was used as lube for a butt plug, and it also went on her clit and nipples.”
“And if they weren’t planning on spending the night, this means two things,” I told her.
“What?”
“That the submissive little girlfriend likely arrived wearing a buttplug, and that Burn carries Icy Hot around in her purse.”
The scent of her arousal wafted towards me. I tried not to grin.
“Fuck,” she said. “I looked it up because I couldn’t believe that was safe, but it’s apparently a thing.”
“It is. It’s called chemical play.” And as much as Ember likes cinnamon, I suddenly wanted to rub her clit down with it and watch her squirm and beg.
“And your scent tells me this is something you enjoy inflicting on your innocent victims?”
I rolled my eyes at her. “It can be fun. It isn’t one of my personal kinks, but I’ve played around with it. In your case, I think cinnamon might be more fun than muscle liniment.”
Clouds of lust literally rolled off her, filling the room. I took a deep breath, and she glared at me. “Shit, that would burn.”
“Yes. Ginger is actually a little safer as far as heat goes, but as much as you like cinnamon? It’d be great fun.”
“The productive part of my day,” she said, clearly changing the subject, “involved four loads of laundry while I managed to get tons of homework done.”
“And all I managed to do was beat off in the shower and then cook breakfast.”
“Why’d you beat off? No sweetbutts handy?”
Her tone was light but her scent was no longer full of arousal.
Still, I opted for the unvarnished truth. “They’re pretty much always handy, but I’m not gonna fuck someone right before I come over.”
“I want to point out that it’s fine for you to fuck them anytime, and yet, I find myself pleased that you beat off instead.”
“The point I was making was that I didn’t get anything accomplished. I’ll be working the spa Monday, since I traded time with Clean so he’ll work the door at Blaze tonight.”
“Do you do your own laundry? I can’t see it, but I’m guessing you have to if you want clean clothes.”
“The MC owns laundromats with both a do-it-yourself section and a full service section — drop it off one morning, pick it up the next. Someone picks our bags up from the clubhouse on Tuesday morning and brings the laundry back all folded and neat on Wednesday evening. It’s free for the brothers, and our tenants pay by the piece. We have the same deal with a few other apartment complexes.”
“Who washes them?”
“Employees. We had six locations before the riots, now we have three. A brother and his ol’lady managed the six before, though we all knew his ol’lady was the real brains of the partnership. He was killed in the battle, and now she manages three by herself. Normally, we don’t let outsiders manage our businesses, but she’s still family.” Though we’d voted to take another look at her trustworthiness when she started seriously dating someone.
She laughed. “See, I had it right?”
“What do you need out of me tonight? I can man the concession stand during the first two matches, or pretty much anything else you need. I want to be sitting in the stands during your match, but I can help the rest of the day.”
“But why?” she asked. “Why do you want to watch me? And why are you offering to work without pay? I mean, you and I are just...” She sighed, apparently unable to word her question, but I knew where she was going with it.
“You said something once about the therapist telling you that you have to see yourself as having value outside of what you can offer sexually.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m your friend, whether we ever have sex again or not. You are more than yo
ur body and the pleasure you can give others.”
She took a few seconds to let that sink in. I scented mixed emotions, and then she moved on. She wasn’t ready to deal with it yet, but that was okay. I’d planted the seed.
“We could use someone else at the door, if you don’t mind. I have three wristbands for you. Some just pay to watch one match, others two, and a few want to see all three. The first and last are the most popular, which is why we split them up.”
I grinned. “I have a little experience managing a door.”
We loaded the floorboard and back seat full of containers of sweets, and when we finally got in the front to leave, Ember handed me another container. “This one’s yours.”
I opened it and the smell of honey came wafting out. I looked at the labels. Honey cheesecake, peanut butter and honey caramel tart, chocolate chip cookies, and caramel brownies.
I grabbed the cheesecake, opened it, and took a bite. My groan sounded almost sexual.
“Thank you. Damn, this is good.”
“All are made with honey instead of sugar where possible.”
My inner bear was already head-over-heels for her, and this only made him more determined that we needed to win her back.
I tried to explain to him we’d never really had her, but I understood his point.
She texted Burn when we were a few minutes away, and a couple of her teammates were waiting for us near the loading area, prepared to carry the food inside. I opened the door and got out, and Burn shook her head and looked at my truck as she said, “Wow. Sorry to hear about your dick, dude.”
I had no idea what she was talking about, so I looked to Ember for an explanation. She came around the front of the truck and gave Burn an incredulous look. “What have you heard?! I haven’t told you anything about his—” She turned to me. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
Burn laughed. “Damn girl. You didn’t have to say anything. Anyone who drives a truck this big has to have a tiny penis. There’s obviously some compensating going on.”
“Oh, my gosh. You have no idea...” Ember put her hands on her hips. “He’s so big, it’s impractical, and I can’t believe I’m having to defend his damned dick.”
Burn gave me an appraising look, as if perhaps there was more to me than she assumed. “Well, perhaps he’s the exception to the rule.”
Another teammate laughed. “I don’t think it’s a rule so much as a funny meme.”
“Wait,” said another. “Impractical? As in, he’s too big to fit?”
“I am not having this conversation,” she told them. “Get the food and take it inside before I cram it up your ass and ask how that tastes!”
Enough people had come out to help, we didn’t need to take anything in, and Ember got into the passenger seat instead of going inside. She was apparently going to ride with me to park the truck.
“I’m so sorry. Fuck. I’m not sure if I made it better or worse.”
I chuckled. “Anytime you want to defend my dick, feel free.” I touched her hand. “Don’t stress over it. We’re good.”
She blew out a breath. “I’m gonna kill her.”
“No you aren’t. I’m sure you’ll find appropriate revenge, but she’ll still be breathing.”
“And the bitch of it is, now every time I see her girlfriend, I’m going to assume she has a butt plug in, but I’m not a big enough cunt to embarrass her girlfriend by bringing it up in front of the entire team.”
“Because you’re a good person, and that means something.” I turned my truck off and turned to her. “Put me to work if you need me. My preference would be to work doing whatever you are, but I can easily handle the door if that’s where you need me.”
“I can work the door with you. I usually do a two-hour stint in the concession stand, but no reason we can’t mix things up a little.”
I’d learned the derby girls who make it to the top of the city-wide team form a company. They don’t have an owner, like other sports teams. They have to figure out how to make enough money to keep the team going. They took the concept of teammates to a whole new level. This women’s sport was owned by the women who played it. No one owned them.
And I was sure this resonated with Ember in ways the other girls never considered.
Well, except for perhaps Burns’ girlfriend.
Chapter Seventeen
Ember
Our junior team won their bout, but one of our best teens got injured. It tears me up when people get hurt, whether they’re on our team or the other one. Humans are so damned fragile, and yet they do dangerous shit anyway.
We had a larger than normal crowd by the time we got to the final event, but Memphis always brings a lot of people with them. Nashville had handed our asses to us two weeks before, so morale wasn’t great going into this, but I knew we could kick ass this week.
Most surprising of all, several of Dementor’s brothers showed up to cheer us on. Knowing how shorthanded they are, and what they probably had to do to make sure all posts were manned, it kind of hit me emotionally.
Dementor was willing to work for us, and it didn’t matter he wasn’t getting a piece of me later that night. Plus, his brothers wanted me to feel as if I belonged. They wanted to show their support. It made me feel a little guilty for being accepted into a family I hadn’t truly accepted yet.
But then the match started and I didn’t have time to think about anything except skating. They put me in as the first jammer, meaning it was my responsibility to get our points on the board before the other team got points on the board. I had to build us a lead and not get us behind.
I thrive under pressure though, and by the time the first jam finished, we were well ahead of Memphis.
Dementor
The Birmingham Hellcats didn’t just win. They kicked ass. The afterparty was being hosted by one of their sponsors, a local mom-and-pop sports bar. It was already full of fans when we arrived, and I noted the match was being replayed on every screen.
If you were wearing Hellcat merch you got one free appetizer, and I’d bought a hat earlier. I wanted a t-shirt, but the largest size they carried wasn’t even close to big enough. The girl running the booth knew who I was. She asked me what size I needed and promised to order the style I liked the next time they bought more. I offered to pay for it ahead of time, but she wouldn’t let me since she didn’t know when they might order more.
I ate four double burgers and Ember ate two. The humans all had to comment on this, but I’m used to it. The way Ember responded, she was too. You’d think her teammates would’ve been used to it, but my guess is they’d always look for an explanation because she’s so short and skinny. I mean, as far as swan maidens go, she’s rather tall, but that still made her smaller than most human women.
The party broke up around one in the morning, and I have no idea how many Fireball shots my little Hellcat downed, but she was nice and tipsy when we left.
I put her in my truck, buckled her seatbelt, and walked around to my side of the truck.
“Done being platonic. We should fuck when we get home.”
My dick perked up, but I knew better. “Tell me that again tomorrow when you’re sober, and we’ll order in for dinner tomorrow evening instead of going out.”
“I decided before the party, when I was still sober.”
“Then you should’ve told me while you were sober.”
“Don’t be a dick.”
I chuckled. “Me and my impractical dick can’t help it.”
“Fuck. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. We’re good.”
She leaned over and reached for my cock, but I blocked her and pushed her back up. “Behave.”
“Will you spank me if I don’t?”
Fuck me. I smiled to myself and looked sideways long enough to give her what I hoped was an intimidating scowl. “No, you’d like that too much. Don’t think I won’t practice some really boring bondage if that’s what it takes, though.”<
br />
She gave a short huff, clearly not happy with my response. I had a feeling she was only quiet because she was plotting. Three minutes later, she said, “What if I just give you a blow job, and that’s all we do?”
“Tomorrow evening, if you still want to, I’ll fuck your face good and hard.”
“You’re turning me down?”
“Nope. I’m making sure you make an informed decision.”
The plan had been for me to watch the derby, spend the night, spend the day with her Sunday, take her to dinner that evening, and then either go home after we ate, or stay again. We were going to play that part by ear.
So, I had a bag with two changes of clothes. Another bag, stowed behind the back seat, held wrist and ankle cuffs, a bondage collar, carabiners, and a few other generic items. This was older equipment I didn’t use much anymore. The good stuff was still either at my house or in my apartment. However, I grabbed that bag and stuck it inside my duffel before I went into Ember’s house. I wasn’t going to keep moving her hands off my dick all night.
Ember
When I awakened Sunday morning, everything came back to me. Fuck, I’d been such a damned brat.
And Dementor had managed me. I was on my side with my wrists connected to a thick, heavy collar. Another loose rope went from my wrist cuffs to something I couldn’t see — probably the leg of the bed. One ankle was also bound — likely to a different leg of the bed. Basically, I couldn’t get out of bed, I couldn’t sit up, and I couldn’t roll over, but I was comfy. He knew how I liked to sleep, and he gave me fairly loose bondage in that position.
But my muscles ached from the match, and I had to pee, and fuck, but my head hurt.
“I’m sober now, and I’m mortified. Can you undo me so I can go to the bathroom and the kitchen? I need something for my head.”
He was curled behind me, spooned around me. I didn’t want to get up and lose his body heat, but I really had to go.
Dementor (Rolling Thunder MC Birmingham Book 1) Page 14