Roulette Redux

by Livia Grant

  “So, you said you want to start at 7:30pm. That’s fine, but once my intro is out of the way, what order did you plan on us starting the pairings with?” Chase asked.

  “I was just going to throw all of the tops together and have them draw.”

  “I don’t think so. That will be too confusing. I think we should start with the new pairings first. We shouldn’t lump them all together if we are going to need to have different options for the wheel.”

  Jaxson smiled listening to Chase question Spencer.

  “You’re making it too complicated,” Spencer groused.

  “No. I’m making it organized. How confusing will it be to have a Domme come up and roll a submissive that doesn’t want to play with a female? Or have a gay Dom roll a woman. That’s too messy. And sets up people to feel awkward.”

  Emma was nodding. “I agree completely.”

  Spencer was annoyed. “Fine. Maybe we should start at seven then. It’s going to take us an hour just to match people up.”

  Jaxson didn’t appreciate his friend’s bad attitude and was about to say so when Klara reached over and held her Dom’s hand. She leaned in and whispered something too softly for the trio to hear, but whatever it was, it wiped the scowl off the older man’s face. Jax thought about teasing him about who was in charge in their D/s relationship, but then stopped himself, remembering the many times Chase and Emma had done the same thing for him when he needed it.

  Chase continued on as if nothing had happened. “No, thirty minutes is all we need. I think it’s best to start with the smaller groupings. Male/male, Female/male, and Female/female. Then we can do the Male/female pairs like last year.”

  “Don’t forget we added an option to opt in or out of multiple partners. We have the option for two doms or two subs to sign up together. I’m guessing the two subs will be popular with friends too afraid to sign up on their own,” Spencer observed.

  Klara corrected him. “I wouldn’t count on that. Not all women are into the sharing thing like Emma is,” Klara corrected him, smiling and nodding in Emma’s direction.

  Chase brought the discussion back around to business. “So, we do the groupings in order. The tops come up and drop the ball to get paired up and then their sub comes up to drop the marble at the second wheel to pick the activity. Are we keeping the rules that they need to stay at that station for at least thirty minutes and then they can choose to re-roll again?”

  “Yeah, I think that worked well last year, right?”

  Jaxson interjected. “It did, but I did get some feedback that we had a limited number of costumes in too few size options for some of the role-playing scenes. I know we’ve spent some money this last year slowly building up the wardrobe closet, but are we really ready for all of the scenes that might be rolled?”

  Spencer jumped in with the answer on this one. “I was struggling in this area until last month. We didn’t really have anyone specifically in charge of the costume and wardrobe room. I’d been rotating some of the subs through working in there. None of them were happy about it either. I put the word out and snagged up a new hire who will be starting next week just in time for the New Year’s Eve party. Her name is Jayla Jackson. She was a referral from Samantha Carter. I guess they were friends at Georgetown U.”

  “That’s great that she’s a referral, but does she know what the hell she’s getting herself into? And will she be discreet?” Jaxson probed, always concerned about security.

  “She’s already signed the NDA and I had her come into the club last weekend just to observe. I took it as a good sign when she didn’t run screaming from the building in the first few minutes.” Spencer tried to reassure him.

  “Well, let’s hope our hiring requirements are a bit more stringent than that.”

  “Give me some credit, will ya? She was a theater major. She has been doing part time costume design work for several productions in the area. I know her dream is to get into movies and TV, but for now, this is a steady paycheck and she seems thrilled. I wasn’t too happy to find out Samantha had told Jayla she is friends with Khloe Monroe. I worry she took the job for a connection to Hollywood.”

  “Well shit. Sam should know better than to implicate Khloe into the lifestyle.” Chase interjected.

  “That’s what I thought too, but I get the impression she just told her she knows Khloe, but not that they met at Black Light,” Spencer agreed.

  “Let’s hope so, but you’d better let Cash know. He may need to have a reminder session over his knee with his submissive on our privacy policy,” Jaxson cautioned him.

  “Will do. Can we be done yet?”

  “Since when are you in such a big hurry?”

  “Since Klara and I have tickets to the Nutcracker and dinner reservations at that hot new restaurant near the Capital building.”

  Emma was animated. “You’re going to the Nutcracker? I’m so jealous. My parents used to take me to the production on the campus of the University of Wisconsin when I was a kid.”

  Spencer was already standing, ready to head out. Jaxson couldn’t resist teasing him.

  “You two run along to the ballet now. We won’t see you until after Christmas, but let’s get together on the thirtieth to do a final rundown through the New Year’s Eve party.”

  “Sounds good. Merry Christmas.”

  Valentine’s Day Evening

  “We need to get going downstairs. I’m supposed to be meeting the investors who flew in from the West Coast in fifteen minutes.”

  Chase agreed with Jaxson. He’d wanted to be at Black Light thirty minutes ago. “I don’t know what the hell is taking Emma so long. She isn’t usually into the whole primping thing, but for some reason she’s been spending a lot of time in the bathroom lately.”

  He didn’t miss the look of worry on his Dom’s brow as Jaxson replied. “I want to get her into the doctor tomorrow. She hasn’t been eating well for weeks. At first I thought she was doing the whole diet thing again, but I can’t shake the feeling it’s something more.”

  Jaxson wasn’t an alarmist, so his level of concern raised Chase’s already high anxiety level. As much fun as he knew they’d have that night at Black Light’s Roulette event, he knew he’d be relieved when it was over. Having to add worrying about Emma’s health jacked up his anxiety to a whole other level.

  While Chase grabbed his emcee cue cards for the night and tucked them into the inner pocket of his tuxedo jacket, Jaxson crossed to the door of the ensuite bathroom, giving it three loud knocks. When Emma didn’t answer, the men’s eyes’ met. Jaxson reached for the doorknob. He was going in.

  Emma opened the door at that exact moment, a big smile plastered on her face.

  “I’m ready now,” she said sweetly, sweeping past Jaxson and heading straight for the door to the elevator foyer that would take them down to the basement.

  Her elegant, red, sexy dress was perfect for the occasion. She’d arranged her long hair in a fancy up-do that had a few stray tendrils falling around her creamy neck. As beautiful as she was, something was odd about her appearance that he couldn’t put his finger on.

  “Freeze,” Jaxson ordered.

  One look at his Dom’s stern face told Chase that he hadn’t been the only one to pick up on a possible problem. Their submissive had followed orders, stopping a few feet before the foyer.

  “Turn,” Jaxson added.

  Emma took a bit longer to comply with that request. As she turned slowly, Chase grew more concerned. Where was her smile?

  It seemed she’d taken an interest in the carpet. As the switch in their family, Chase added his own demand. “Eyes.”

  She took even longer to react to that request, and when she did her bloodshot eyes and red nose told the men what they needed to know.

  Jaxson’s Dom protectiveness moved into high gear as he closed the distance between him and Emma. “Why the hell have you been crying?” Chase arrived right behind his Dom, flanking the other side of their submissive.

 
Emma smiled. “It’s nothing,” she said, attempting to minimize the situation. “Women cry all the time for no good reason.”

  At least she didn’t try to deny it.

  “Maybe other women cry on a dime, but you don’t. Something’s wrong.”

  “Oh for crying out loud, there’s nothing wrong!”

  Jaxson reached out to her, gripping Emma’s waist to hold her still while he looked into her unique lavender eyes. Chase had been on the receiving end of this particular x-ray like stare. An almost electric current flowed between the threesome when Jaxson went all Dom on them.

  “We need to get going downstairs, but this discussion is not over, young lady. Tonight, I want you naked and kneeling in front of the chairs near the fireplace within thirty minutes after we get home from the Roulette event. You’ll prepare a cigar service and bourbon for me and Chase. Then we’ll spend some quality time discussing whatever the hell it is you’re hiding from us. Got it?”

  Chase’s cock was like steel by the end of his Dom’s dominating rant. On the one hand, he felt lucky not to be the one on the receiving end of this particular lecture, but like Jaxson, he was worried about Emma. Her eyes widened as her breaths came in short puffs.

  Chase stepped close, hugging her from behind and leaning in to whisper in her ear. “Answer your Dom, baby.”

  “Yes, Sir,” she whispered, not taking her eyes off Jaxson as he leaned in to cup her cheek in his hand.

  Jax softened. “I’m just worried about you, baby. You sure you’re okay?”

  Emma smiled, helping both Jaxson and Chase relax. “I’m fine. Really.”

  Chase grabbed her hand, anxious to get going. “Okay, then let’s get going. I’m sure our guests have started arriving.”

  It was after seven and the excitement in Black Light was amping higher the closer they got to the seven-thirty start time. Chase had a great view from the stage of the contestants and spectators pouring in. Most women were dressed to kill in sexy outfits. The men wore a wider range of clothing options from jeans and simple button-down shirts, to tuxedos, and everything in between. He’d even spotted a Dom visiting from the UK who’d worn a kilt.

  “So all I need to do is pass the marbles to the doms and then the subs when it’s time for them to spin, right?” Emma asked.

  He could tell Emma was getting nervous. Chase had been keeping an extra eye on her, making sure she was really okay. He tried to reassure her. “Yep, that’s it. If you know the dom or sub, you can say hi or chat with them, but it’s not required.”

  “Okay, even I can’t screw that up.”

  “Emma,” Chase ground out her name in annoyance. “You’d better not be putting yourself down, young lady. Don’t you think you’re in enough trouble with Jax already?”

  A sudden wave of guilt washed over Chase when he realized it was probably his own insecurities that had been the reason Emma was roped into being his assistant with the emcee duties for the night.

  “Honey, if you are this upset about having to be on stage with me, you can go sit with Jaxson if you’d be happier.” In truth, he would hate it if he had to be on stage all night long alone like the year before, but he’d prefer that to upsetting Emma.

  “No way! You aren’t getting rid of me that easy. I’m just a bit nervous, but honestly it will be way more fun up here with you than sitting with all of those investors as they talk business all night.”

  “Well please let me know if you get tired and want to go sit with Jax later on, okay?”

  “I won’t need to do that, thanks.”

  Chase looked at his watch and then looked out into the crowd. The Doms and Dommes were lining up on the floor to his right and the submissives were at the bottom of the steps to the stage to his left. He’d studied the contestant information carefully so he was able to pick out the participants pretty easily, counting up the total present and coming up at least ten people short. Scanning the crowd, he saw a few up at the bar, but even Jaxson was nowhere to be seen.

  “Can you hold down the fort here? We can’t start until Jaxson gives the green light so I’m going to see if I can track him down and see if we have a hope of starting in the next ten minutes.”

  By the time Chase tracked down Jaxson and made it back to the stage, it was seven thirty-five. They were already running late.

  Before welcoming the crowd, he joined Emma and asked her softly, “You ready?”

  “Yes. I’m more nervous just waiting. I’ll be happy to get started.” Emma gave a brave smile, and he leaned in to give her a soft kiss for luck.

  Chase picked up the microphone, made sure he had his cue cards handy, and took a deep breath before diving into the introductions.

  Stepping to the front of the stage, into the brightest light, he called out to the crowd. “Is everyone ready to have a good time?” His question was met with a rowdy blend of excited shouts and some nervous clapping. “I want to welcome you all to the second annual Valentine Roulette event or as we have been calling it, Roulette Redux. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock and missed it, my name is Chase Cartwright and this gorgeous woman joining me on the stage this evening is the love of my Dom, Jaxson, and my life, Emma Fischer. The three of us and the staff of Black Light would like to wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

  The room that had hushed as his introduction began broke out into a round of excited applause. When the clapping ebbed, Chase continued. “I’d like to start by thanking those of you who have come here tonight as participants. As we learned last year, it can be a bit nerve wracking not knowing in advance who you might be playing with or even what activities you’ll spin, but that’s exactly what makes this event so much fun for both the participants and the observers. Our hope is that you’ll look at the evening as an adventure where you’ll hopefully learn something about yourself and your limits, all in a safe environment. You’re all brave as hell, and we definitely look forward to enjoying all of your efforts.”

  “For those of you here as observers, I want to remind you of the rules our participants agreed to when they signed up for Roulette. In a couple of minutes, twenty Dominants will join me on the stage. They will be drawing numbers for their turn at the first of two roulette wheels. On their wheel are the names of the participating submissives available to them. I will spin the wheel and each Dom will take their turn dropping the ball to choose their submissive for the night.”

  The room broke out in excited side conversations. Chase waited a few seconds for the din to die down before continuing on. “Just out of curiosity, please applaud if you were here for our event last year.”

  About half the room broke into rowdy cheers. “Excellent. Welcome back. And for those of you joining Roulette for the first time, you’re in for an amazing night of fun.

  “Now, before we get down to the business of matching up our play partners, we have one exciting change to the lineup this year. It was important to Jaxson, Emma, and me that we offer more diversity in our play partners. In addition to the fifteen male dominants who will be paired with female submissives like last year, this year we are so pleased to have two Male/male couples, two Female/female couples and finally, one Domme who will be paired with a submissive male partner.”

  As expected, this announcement was met with loud clapping that he had to wait to calm down.

  “We’ve also added some new and daring activities to our roulette wheel this year, giving us thirty activities for the submissives to land on. Each participant was allowed to choose up to four of those activities to place on their hard-limit list. I’ll check my master list after each spin and, assuming the submissive rolls an action that is not on either player’s limit list, they will spend at least thirty minutes participating in that event. After thirty minutes, couples can either continue with that activity, or if they so choose they may come back up to the stage and the sub can roll again to try another random kink.”

  The room was abuzz with excited conversations of the possibilities. This time, Chase had
to shush the crowd so they could move forward. “I know everyone is excited, but there are just a few more rules to go through before we get started. The event will continue until eleven this evening. Couples who stay together for the full three hours and complete one or more of their rolled kinks will each receive one month’s free membership to Black Light worth $2,500 each. We have several dungeon monitors throughout the club. They are there to keep everyone safe and are also available for coaching Dominants who may need assistance with scenes they are less familiar with. In addition, we have several Black Light runners who can assist participants with things like retrieving beverages, blankets, implements, or scene props, to name a few. Just speak up if you need help.

  “And finally, I have to mention that every participant can use either the house safeword of ‘red’, or an otherwise negotiated safeword you choose as a couple, to end play at any time. I will remind you, however, that if one of you safewords, you both will be out of the contest. So, it’s in your best interest to work together as a team. Dominants, it’s okay to push your submissives to the edge. Just try not to push them over the line because if they safeword, you’re done for the night, too. Like last year, we do expect dominants to allow some time for aftercare before moving to your next challenge as long as the length of time is within reason.”

  Chase took a brief break to look at his cue card, checking to see if he’d covered all of the important points he needed to before getting down to the game. He then asked, “So, before we begin, does anyone have any questions?”

  Unlike last year when there had been several questions, it seemed the more experienced group of participants were more excited to just get started with the game.

  Chase turned to Emma who was already reaching out to hand him two small sticks that had the numbers one and two on them. He was careful to keep the numbers written on each piece of wood hidden in the palm of his hand.