by Golden Angel
"Yes." Reaching out his hand, he smiled again when she automatically put hers in his. His palm was warm but not sweaty, and when he curled his fingers around hers she felt a little jolt of electricity right down her spine. "Come on, let's go."
The ride was surprisingly relaxing. Although Rick wouldn't tell her where they were going, the conversation flowed easily enough. After all, they'd been talking just about every morning for the past week. She told him about the latest drama going on at work with a new female server and the two guys that were trying to get her attention, apparently not realizing that she was obviously crushing on one of the line cooks. Mostly he just listened and asked questions as they drove downtown, making Maria even more antsy.
It had been a while since she'd been downtown and she still didn't have a clue where he was taking her. When she tried to tease it out of him, he just shook his head and refused to answer.
"It's better to show you," was all he would say.
Annoying.
When they pulled up to what looked like a warehouse, with a parking lot full of cars, she was intensely curious. As far as she knew, there wasn't much around this area, and while the cars made it obvious that there was something here, she wasn't sure what it could be. At least there were plenty of cars; she was already questioning her sanity a bit for letting him take her somewhere without telling her their destination. It's not like she really knew him, not very well.
Considering they were in what seemed more like an industrial district, his mysterious behavior and their all black attire, she was almost a little bit worried that he was going to reveal he was a vampire or something. Obviously she'd been reading too many urban fantasy books lately. But hey, their current surroundings would be the perfect location for him to lure her to if he was.
"Where are we?” she asked, looking around the lot. There was another couple getting out of a car and walking towards the door, which made her feel a little better. The man was wearing similar clothing to Rick and the woman was wearing a short, shiny red skirt that was even shorter and tighter than Maria's, paired with a black bustier that pushed her breasts up as if offering them on a platter. She was clinging to the man's arm as she tottered on insanely high heels that made Maria worry about the woman's ankles.
"Stronghold," Rick said. When she turned to look at him, his face was impassive and she realized that he'd been watching her watch the other couple. There was a tension in his voice that she hadn’t heard before, although his tone was smooth and controlled. She suddenly got the impression that he was showing her something that he wanted her to like, and was nervous that she wouldn’t. "It's a club I go to sometimes."
"For dancing?" Somehow that just didn't fit with him, or with the couple that had just gone through the plain looking door. It definitely didn’t fit with the anxiety she sensed in him.
"No. Although there is a dance floor. Come on." Turning away, Rick opened his door and got out. Definitely nervous; he usually wasn’t so abrupt when he talked to her. Although she could see that he was on his way to her side of the car, she opened the door and got out without waiting for him. Sometimes chivalry was nice, but she always felt stupid just sitting in a car and waiting for a guy to open it, as if she couldn't handle it herself. Holding a door open for her to walk through made sense, sitting and waiting in a car didn't.
He just gave her a little smile and pushed his hands into his pockets, turning to walk briskly towards the door the other couple had gone through.
Step into my web, she thought. But she followed anyway.
The tension in his shoulders seemed to grow as they approached the building. Which only fed her curiosity. Seriously, what was behind that door?
A lobby, it turned out. And not a particularly flashy one. She could hear music coming from the far door, which was guarded by a giant. An attractive giant with creamy dark skin and melting chocolate eyes, but still a giant. While Rick made her feel kind of dainty, he didn't actually make her feel petite or small. Especially when she was in heels. The giant did. He was tall and broad and nicely muscled, wearing nothing but leather pants to show off his muscled chest and shoulders, a line of dark hair going down from his belly button into his pants.
A hand wrapped around her arm, pulling her gaze away from the giant’s crotch. Oops. Not her fault, the happy trail had led her there.
"Try not to check out my friends," Rick said, a little wryly.
"I wasn't checking him out," Maria said. "Not in that way." She glanced over at the giant who winked at her, and she knew that he'd heard. "Not that you're not very attractive."
The deep rumble of laughter made her grin as Rick pulled her over to the desk where a very perky and alert little black-haired pixie was practically bouncing in her seat. The leather dress she was wearing had cut outs all over the bodice and gave the impression of exposing more than it covered. It looked fantastic against her pale skin, emphasizing her slight figure and the curves that she did have.
"Hi Rick!" she chirped, big blue eyes peering at Maria from thick black lashes. "You brought a guest! The subs are going to be devastated."
Subs?
Before she could ask, Rick was introducing her to the pixie. "Lexie, this is Maria. Maria, this is Lexie."
Now that was a name she recognized, although she hadn't expected to meet the young woman this evening. Maria grinned. "The one that's growing up too fast?"
Lexie rolled her eyes, which really were a stunning shade of bright, crystal blue, contrasting sharply with all that dark black hair. Literally black, just as dark (or maybe even a shade darker) than Maria's. But where Maria's was long, curly and unruly, Lexie's was short, sleek and straight.
"Is that what he said?" she asked. "Growing up too fast? You'd think I was still a child the way they treat me, none of them wants to acknowledge that I'm actually grown up." She shot Rick a look, but he was acting like he hadn't heard her say a thing. Maria giggled.
There was definitely a sibling-type vibe going on between these two, and if she read between the lines of what Rick had told her, Lexie definitely had a plethora of "big brothers." Poor thing. From Rick's description, Maria had been expecting someone much younger and more immature, but it was obvious that although Lexie was young, she was definitely a woman and not a girl, and she seemed pretty put together for her age.
"Well it's nice to finally meet you," Maria said, reaching her hand across the desk Lexie was sitting at. "Rick talks about you a lot."
"Oh?" Lexie asked in real surprise as she automatically clasped Maria's hand back. She hesitated on what to say next. "That's... surprising. Rick's actually not usually a talker."
"Really?" Maria asked, now surprised herself. She also realized that Lexie's hesitation must have been because Lexie hadn't heard anything about Maria. But the young woman obviously wanted to reassure Maria with an explanation of why that might be so; which was all the more interesting because Rick did an awful lot of talking for her.
"In our group of friends I usually don't need to talk," Rick said. "Everyone else is doing plenty of talking without me." There was a hint of exasperation in his voice, and Maria couldn’t help but giggle. He’d mentioned before that his friends could be like gossiping girls. Apparently either he hadn’t mentioned her to his friends, or none of them had mentioned her to Lexie, but she wasn’t going to get hurt feelings over that. He’d brought her out with him tonight, and that’s what counted.
"Especially now that Olivia and I aren't the only girls," Lexie said gleefully. She gave Maria a huge smile and squeezed her hand before releasing it and looking back at Rick. It seemed like she wasn't just friendly, but that she was genuinely pleased to see Maria with Rick. Which Maria found fascinating. "Are you two going to play tonight? Does she need to fill out forms?"
Play? Forms?
"No, I'm just showing her around the club," Rick said, the tension returning to his frame as he shifted closer to her. Almost like he was worried she would try to run. Maria decided to keep her mouth shut an
d her ears open, hoping that Lexie might give her some more hints about what the night might hold for her.
Unfortunately, Rick just told Lexie that he'd see her later and took Maria's arm, steering her towards the door with the giant guard. Maria waved a goodbye to Lexie who waved cheerfully back at her and then had to turn her attention to a ringing phone. When she had turned back around, the giant had shifted so that he was partly blocking the doorway, watching her and Rick approach with an arrested expression on his face. His dark eyes seemed to be studying her, not judging, but just taking note of every detail about her while judgment was pending.
"Rick."
"Jared." Rick paused and then she felt, more than heard, him sigh when Jared didn't move out of the way. "This is Maria. Maria, this is my friend Jared."
"Hello," Maria said, tilting her head back to look up at him. Holy crap he was big. The way he was looming over her, making her feel like she was being weighed on scales that she didn't know the purpose of, made her feel uncomfortable. Which, in turn, made her feel snarky. "You're a little bit scary, did you know that?"
A small smile twitched the edge of his mouth. "I try."
Rick snorted. "He's actually a big teddy bear, don't let the height fool you."
"I was thinking more along the line of all the bulging muscles, but whatever," Maria muttered under her breath, purposefully loud enough that both men could hear her. Jared laughed although Rick looked a little less pleased.
"So how do you two know each other?"
"We're neighbors," Maria said, a little surprised when a flash of recognition went through Jared's eyes; she felt Rick tense beside her. After Lexie, she had been prepared to meet a bunch of people that she'd heard about, but hadn't heard about her. Apparently Rick had said something to Jared, at least, although from their reactions she couldn't tell if that was a bad or good thing.
"It's nice to meet you," Jared said, giving her a small smile as he moved back to the side of the door and out of their way. "I hope you enjoy yourself tonight." There was some kind of ulterior meaning laden in his voice that she didn't understand. It was like everyone else was speaking a language that she'd learned, but wasn't fluent in, and she was missing some kind of important subtext.
Talk about frustrating.
But nothing they actually said gave her any reason to ask questions, and if she was imagining it then she'd look like an idiot for saying something about it.
"We'll see you later," Rick said, putting his hand on the small of her back and propelling her through the door. Maria gave Jared a little smile as they went through.
The music was loud, but not so overpowering that people couldn't talk, she noticed. There was a bar and a dance floor, although almost no one was on it at the moment. The couples that were there were involved in erotic bump and grinds, their bodies almost plastered together. That seemed a little unusual for a club, since they weren't surrounded by singles or groups of women dancing together, but not entirely out of place. The bar was right in front of them, and there was a lot of leather and latex gathered around the tables and on the stools.
Rick was still pushing her forward, watching her face, although she wasn't entirely sure what he was waiting for. Then she saw one of the pictures behind the bar and gasped.
It was a black and white, gorgeously done, of a woman bent over some kind of bench. The picture was taken from the side, but it was obvious that she was naked except for the thick black cuffs at her wrists and ankles, restraining her. A blindfold was over her eyes, her breasts were hanging down on either side of the bench, and there was a man standing behind her. Nothing of his body could be seen from about mid-chest up, but he was obviously wearing a suit and he was holding a riding crop which he was trailing along the white expanse of her ass.
There was something intensely erotic and also rather frightening about the picture. Maria felt her cheeks flushing and paling in reaction. The press of Rick's fingers against the small of her back let her know that he was still there, but he didn't try to move her away from the picture. She looked over at the next picture behind the bar, which had a man on his knees, some kind of metal cage around his erection, while a woman stood with her legs far apart, one hand on his hair, dragging him face first into the V of her legs. Even though his hands were cuffed behind his back, the cage around his bait and tackle looked both scary and painful, and he obviously had no control over the situation, the expression on his face was blissful.
And none of it was something that she'd ever seen in any kind of bar or club.
"What is this place?" Her voice was barely a whisper, the question more rhetorical than anything else, but Rick answered anyway.
"A BDSM club."
"BDSM?"
He sighed, but it didn't sound like he was mad that she didn't know or impatient or anything. More like he was reluctant to explain. "Bondage, Domination, Sadism, Masochism. Although most of the letters have multiple meanings, that's probably the most popular denotation."
No wonder he'd been reluctant to explain. He obviously expected her to start running. Which was absolutely what she should do.
Run, run, run, as fast as you can...
But then she'd never been a very good gingerbread man, she was more like Hansel and Gretel, eagerly entering the witch's house. Sweet seduction... but was Stronghold a trap or something else entirely? She'd heard about stuff like this, but she'd never known anyone who actually did it. Or, at least, they hadn't admitted it to her. No wonder Rick had been so reticent, it wasn’t exactly something people encouraged conversation about.
She looked around the room. "Is there more?"
The main floor didn't look like much more than a regular club, although she now noticed that there were people actually kneeling on the floor over in a little space that was lined with chairs and small couches. There were some people sitting in the chairs as well, talking to those who were kneeling. The BDSM thing did explain why there were only couples on the dance floor and why they were pressed so closely together. They were there to have sex and be spanked and… well, who knew what else. A lot of the men and women at the bar were dressed like Rick. There were servers, with trays, who were wearing a lot less and were weaving through the people kneeling on the carpeted area, serving them drinks.
Like, wearing a lot less. Maria actually felt kind of overdressed. Most of the women were wearing nothing but underwear, and if they were covering their top with a corset they had on nothing but a thong on the bottom. Some had a skirt on, but their breasts were either entirely exposed or barely covered with what looked like tape. One woman who was kneeling and talking to a man in leather pants and a leather vest was wearing nothing but a see through g-string and jewelry on her nipples. Yikes.
It was scary, but also almost natural looking. No one was acting as if there was anything weird going on, no one was staring or leering – some of them were checking each other out, but it was in a hot sexual way. Not a creepy, smarmy way. The people on the dance floor were the same; half-naked, and yet the sexual energy between dance partners seemed natural and beautiful. So much so that it had taken Maria a couple of glances to realize that the people in the different areas weren’t exactly dressed.
"There's private rooms upstairs and downstairs... and there's a Dungeon downstairs."
"A Dungeon?" Maria could hear the uncertainty wavering in her voice. Half-naked people were one thing, torture was another. "Like... with a rack and chains and stuff?"
Rick laughed. "No rack. Some spanking benches, a few Saint Andrew's crosses, and some tables. There are chains, but mostly ropes and leather cuffs." He paused. For all his apparent calm, he was definitely still tense. "So, what do you think? Do you want to stay here or check out the other floors?"
Come into my parlor...
"I have to pee," Maria said honestly, rather than answering his question. It was true, but mostly she desperately needed some space to gather her thoughts and acclimate herself to this new norm. He’d just whacked her with a metap
horical brick and now he was asking if she wanted more? She just needed a breather for a moment. "Is there a bathroom anywhere?"
"Yeah, this way." To her surprise, instead of just pointing the way, Rick led her over to the doors on the opposite side of the room. She noticed more than one person watching their progress with interest, including some seriously intimidating looking men and women, and she was suddenly glad that he'd decided to lead her there instead of just letting her cross the room on her own. More than one woman that was kneeling on the floor gave her a dirty look. Maria assumed because she was with Rick.
Interesting.
"Here you go. I'll be over there," he pointed back towards the bar, "but I'll keep an eye out for you. Take as much time as you need. No one will bother you in there."
"Thanks," she said, a bit shaken by the implication that someone might 'bother' her elsewhere if he wasn't there to watch over her.
The bathroom was actually a locker room. There were several other women in it, chatting and comparing outfits in one of the three rows of lockers. Maria tried not to gawk when she saw that one of them had hoops in her nipples and her labia, and was brazenly flaunting all of her jewelry in front of the others. One of the women, a tall redhead, smiled encouragingly at her as she passed, as if sensing that Maria was feeling out of her depth.
Giving the woman a weak smile back, Maria hurried to where she saw some stalls and some much needed privacy.
Locking herself into the tiny cubicle, she sat down rather heavily on the toilet, her knees feeling kind of shaky and weak. What was she doing here? Was she really that desperate? No, of course she wasn't. That was a stupid thought. It wasn't desperation that brought her here, that was just her fear speaking. She'd been curious. And attracted to Rick.
This was just a lot more than she'd bargained for. No wonder she was unsettled. The jerk hadn't even given her the slightest bit of a heads up! Then again, would she have believed him? Or even realized how serious he was? She'd kind of brushed off the idea of being spanked as a kinky thing to be indulged in once in a while. Obviously she'd had no idea how kinky he really was.