by Dakota Trace
He was startled when a petite hand brushed over his shoulder. Turning, expecting to see one of the servers coming to tell him that his first client of the evening was ready, he was surprised to see Olivia, the owner of the club standing next to him. Dressed to the nines in tight black leather pants, a deep purple corset with a coiled whip hanging from one hip, she looked every inch the proud, experienced Dommé she was.
“Olivia.”
“Are you sure you want to be here, Josh?” The concern was evident on her face.
Clenching his teeth to keep from lashing out at his friend, he nodded. “I have nowhere else to be tonight.”
She nodded her understanding. “Come with me.”
Just then Ashley, one of her servers, came up to them. “Ms.Sarith has arrived, Master Josh.”
He nodded. “Go have her change and wait for me in the gold room. Thank you.” It was time. He turned to follow the server when Olivia stopped them.
“Ashley?”
The young woman stopped. “Yes, Mistress Olivia?”
“Make Ms. Sarith comfortable and have Master David start her session.”
Josh opened his mouth to protest when Olivia held up a hand to silence him.
“My office - now!” With a turn of her stiletto heeled boot, she left. Following after her seemed to be his only option.
* * * *
Pausing at the threshold of Caelan’s playroom, Kalinda took a fortifying breath. She hadn’t visited this room since the night Josh had told her to go to California. At her back, she could feel Dominic’s loving presence.
“If you’re not comfortable, chérie, we don’t have to do this. Just remember they are nothing more than memories. There is nothing in this room that can hurt you at this moment.” She knew why he kept his voice soft and encouraging.
After the delicious dinner of enchiladas that Nisey and Caelan had prepared, the other couple had urged her to show Dominic her brother’s playroom, while they cleaned up the mess - or rather while Nisey paid for the mess she made on Caelan’s shirt. Even through the thick flooring and the padded walls of the playroom, Kalinda could vaguely hear the sound of her friend’s moaning in what Kalinda was certain was absolute pleasure rather than punishment.
Moving further into the playroom, she flipped on the lights to expose the St. Andrews cross in one corner and the spanking bench centered in the room. She immediately pushed back the memories of Josh in this very room. She wasn’t with him anymore, now she was here with Dominic. She glanced around for something to distract her when she noticed in the rear corner a new edition to her brother’s vast amount of gear. Some piece of equipment that hadn’t been there during her time with Josh.
“Hmmm, this play swing is new.” Walking over to it, she hesitantly tested it by sitting in the swing. Of course with her brother being the safety conscious Dom that he was, she wasn’t surprised when it held her weight.
Leaning against the doorframe, Dominic watched as her as she gave it a small push. The long straps with which her feet could be restrained dragged across the floor. She wasn’t surprised when he pushed off the door to join her. Stopping in front of her, he grabbed the cords tethering it to the ceiling, effectively stopping the swing
“Dom?” She moved to get up when he placed a firm hand on her shoulder.
“No. Stay put. We’re going to have a little discussion.” The command in his eyes had her obeying without thought. Crouching down in front of her, he fiddled with the straps for the leg restraints, shortening them.
“I…are you sure that Caelan won’t mind?” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded a bit shaky.
He gave her a half smile before lifting one foot to restrain her ankle with the supple Velcro.
“I’m sure he won’t.” He let go of her foot and patted his thigh. “Other foot, slave.”
His order had her cunny leaking. She’d never tried a sex swing before. Usually when they played it was either the spanking bench or St. Andrews cross set up in Dominic’s spare bedroom. As he held tightly onto her to keep the play-swing still, he made quick work out of restraining her other foot and then both of her hands.
When he released her to walk back across the room, the swing swung gently back and forth. She could just imagine the possibilities of this swing. A low moan built in her throat when he grabbed a soft leather flogger off the bar. She swallowed as her heart sped up. With the way she was trussed up in the swing, with her legs parted and tightly restrained, he could easily use that delicious looking flogger on any part of her body. Her aching pussy was hoping that it would be the first victim.
Her breath caught in her throat and she had to bite her tongue to keep from pleading with him to punish her. When he lightly smacked his own palm with the flogger, she nearly came. The sound of the leather striking flesh was reminiscent of the first time that Josh has bound her to the St. Andrews cross in this very room before he had proceeded with using his flogger on her willing body.
Fighting to keep a tight lid on her memories, she was barely aware when Dominic stepped between her splayed legs.
“Excellent. Now since you can’t run from me, we’re going to have a little discussion.”
Her eyes widened at his tone while fear washed over her. She knew exactly what he wanted to talk about - what she refused to talk about - for fear of reliving the horrible nightmare of her breakup with Josh. “Let me go, Dom.”
He slowly shook his head. “It’s not happening, slave. While we’re here, we’re going to accomplish one of two things. We’re either going to exorcize Joshuah Redding from your system before returning to L.A., or have you so addicted to both me and him that you’ll never want to leave and we’ll stay in Chicago.”
Anger was too mild a word to describe the intense heat that rushed through her at his words. She jerked against the restraints. “Let me go! You’re not going to keep me strapped into this thing while you and Josh fight over me. I won’t do it. I’d rather go back to Gilded Lily for another beating than do what you’re proposing.”
He crouched down until he was at eye level with her. “Have I ever steered you wrong, chérie?”
Glaring at him, she was tempted to mouth off to him, and from the look on his face she could tell he was expecting her to do it. Never let it be said that she wouldn’t arise to the occasion.
“No! But there’s a first time for everything, Dominic. Now let me go before my brother comes down to see why the hell I’m screaming my head off.”
A sharp smack of the flogger against the inside of her denim-covered thigh had her drawing a quick hard breath. Regardless of what her mind wanted, Dominic had definitely trained her body to respond to his touch.
“We’re going to take this step by step until I get the results I want, slave. Even I know without being told that you’re merely the shell of the woman you used to be before coming to L.A. The first step towards solving the problem is sharing it with me. No more of this bare bones stuff. I want to hear it all - everything from what made you deliriously happy to what drove you away from him.”
Tears welled in her eyes. What he was asking for would expose her wounded heart - her very soul.
“And if I can’t?”
“Then heaven help you because I won’t be swayed on this, Kalinda. By the time we leave it will be settled one way or the other. Either I’ll claim you as my own slave - or Redding and I will claim you together. There will be no more half-assed commitment on your part.”
A scream of frustration escaped her. “You asshole!”
“That’s it, Baby, get it all out of your system - then we’ll get started.” Propping his shoulder against the wall next to her, he let her call him everything in the book, knowing the sooner she vented her anger and frustration, the sooner he could start.
* * * *
Nisey lifted her head off Caelan’s shoulder as the screaming coming from the playroom increased. Curled up beside Caelan on the leather couch, she wondered if she should go check on her friend. While she
’d only been in the scene for a couple of years, she knew enough to distinguish screams of frustration from those of true pain, but without seeing Kalinda, she couldn’t be sure.
“Do you think…?”
Caelan urged her head back down to his shoulder. “No, you’re not going down there, grá.”
She wanted to protest, but could tell not only by the tenor of his voice but the thickness of his accent, he was very aware of what Kalinda was experiencing. Perhaps what was happening was something that he and Dominic had talked about when Caelan had taken him out in the backyard to show him the gazebo.
“Are you sure, Caelan?” She kept her voice soft.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Yes. She’s not in any danger from him. She’s purely pissed off, Nisey.”
She sighed. “Do I dare ask what he’s doing to her?”
“Nothing drastic, I assure you. She’d have screamed her safe-word, if he had. He’s just laying down the foundation for the rest of their stay. One way or another by the time their visit is up, she’ll hopefully return to being the Kalinda she was before she left for LA… or a close approximation.”
Wrapping her arms around his waist, she cringed as the screaming continued before growing louder.
“You fucking asshole! Release me! You can go fuck yourself for all I care!”
“Damn, she’s earning her punishment tonight.” Nisey smiled ruefully.
“At least she’s not hiding behind the phony smiles she gave us all night.” Gathering her closer, Caelan was thankful he wasn’t in the other man’s shoes. Dominic had quite a task ahead of him to complete. He only hoped it worked or he’d be kicking his own ass for agreeing to the other man’s daring scheme.
* * * *
Josh shut the door behind him at Olivia’s command. He watched as the older Domme lifted the coiled whip off her hip and placed it on the satiny wood surface of her desk, before sitting down in the plush leather chair behind it.
“Well, don’t stand there, Josh. Take a seat.” She motioned to one of the chairs in front of her.
“I’d rather stand. If you’re firing me, tell me now and I’ll leave.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he tried to fake nonchalance. What would he do if Olivia took away his only outlet? He wasn’t ready to go back on the market and find another personal sub. Their arrangement worked out perfectly for him. He got to release his dominant tendencies on the clients who hired him for that exact purpose, while not worrying about risking his heart again.
He’d gambled with Kalinda and it was obvious she’d moved on, if her display in the car was anything to go by. He’d had to tamp down the urge all day to storm over to Caelan’s house and kidnap her. She belonged to him - the fact she wasn’t at his feet - had him grouchy and on edge. When he’d received a call from a fellow Dom who worked with him at Olivia’s club about a possible evening opening, he’d jumped at the chance. Now it looked like his piss poor attitude was going to get him booted out of his last place of refuge if he didn’t do some serious groveling.
“I really could do without the attitude, Josh. How long have we been friends?” She leaned forward on her desk, bracing her chin with her hands.
He let out a rough sigh. “A long time. Sorry about the attitude, Olivia. I’m on edge tonight and it’s not your fault.”
“Come on, sit.” This time her voice was full of soft understanding as she repeated her earlier order. Giving a weary sigh, he sprawled out in one of the leather chairs in front of her desk.
“Evidently coming here tonight, in the mood I’m in wasn’t a good idea.”
She nodded. “Probably not, especially, if you had a plan to work out your frustrations on an unsuspecting sub. As tightly wound as you seem to be, I don’t think Ms. Sarith would’ve been the correct sub for you to discipline tonight. You could’ve easily hurt her without truly meaning to.”
Understanding filled his face at the rightness of her words, but the question was how was he going to exorcise his need to dominate the one person he wanted but couldn’t have?
“Hell. The only sub that actually could handle my mood tonight is across town with another Dom who probably isn’t even aware of what a treasure he has.”
“I assure you, Josh, Dominic knows exactly what he has, or he wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble and effort to set this up.”
He looked up sharply at her words. “Excuse me?”
She stood before walking around the desk to lean back against the edge of it. “He’s taken a lot of time and effort to plan this trip home with her, and I’m not talking about sight-seeing. You left a big wound on Kalinda when you sent her away. He wants it to be fully healed before he offers her his collar.”
A low growl of anger filled the room. He was shocked to realize that it’d had come from him.
A bubble of laughter escaped Olivia. “Go ahead and growl at me, you big ass, but you know I’m telling you the truth. You sent her away…” She held up a hand when he began to protest. “I know you had the best of intentions, but in doing so, you opened the door to another Dom like Dominic who was more than willing to take what she offered.”
Frustration replaced his earlier anger as he came to the justified conclusion she was taking Caelan’s side regarding Kalinda. “So you’re warning me off of her - just like Caelan?”
She shook her head. “No I’m not! Kalinda is more than a handful for any one Dom. Don’t think I didn’t notice the few times you played with her here that you had to really stretch yourself to keep up with her. She’s a high maintenance submissive. In reality she probably needs more than one master to keep her in line. If she hadn’t gone to California you would’ve worn yourself out trying to keep up with her.”
He immediately rebelled against the idea of being unable to completely satisfy Kalinda by himself. ”It’s never been a problem in the past. I’ve always satisfied my subs.”
She arched a brow at him. “But I’m not talking about just any sub - I’m talking about Kalinda. Have you ever thought that, perhaps, she might feel the need to submit to more than one man that she cares about? Don’t forget that there are two sides to every coin. Her need to submit - even to push her master are just as strong, if not stronger, than your need to dominate her.”
He gave an exasperated sigh wondering how much of what she was saying was truthful. Had Kalinda opened up to the other woman? He needed to talk to Kalinda. He had to find out from the horse’s mouth if he was enough to satisfy her, or if she really needed more than one man to be fulfilled. If she did, perhaps it was time to truly let her go despite the fact that he still wanted her.
He stood. “If you don’t need me, I’m going home. You’ve given me a lot to think about, Olivia, not that I thank you for that.”
She motioned for him to go. “I’ll let Master David know that you won’t be returning.”
“Thank you.” He headed towards the door when her voice stopped him at the threshold.
“Josh? My doors are always open and welcome to you. Next time you accuse me of turning you away, I’ll take my whip to your backside.”
He looked over his shoulder at her. “You know, Olivia, I do believe you would.”
* * * *
Tears spilled over her cheeks, while Kalinda struggled against the restraints Dominic had placed on her. Other than the one swat he’d given her after he’d first restrained her, he hadn’t touched her. Sitting on the floor next to the swing, he continued to watch her with determined eyes while idly running the leather ends of the flogger over one hand. No matter what insult she’d tossed his way or any amount of screaming nothing had provoked him into striking her again, or having him release her from the swing. She’d even tried screaming for her brother, but he’d told her in a firm, no nonsense but still gentle voice that her brother wouldn’t be rescuing her.
“What if I use my safe-word, asshole? You’d have to release me then wouldn’t you?”
A look of amusement crossed his face before being replaced once mo
re by his determined expression. “Go ahead, slave, use your safe-word! This will only start over again the next time you want to play. Today was the very last time I’m going to take the woman I met in L.A. I want the one who’s hiding behind that stone wall of indifference I keep slamming up against when I get too close to her.”
She cursed long and loud at him, telling him in no uncertain terms what she thought about his ancestry.
“You know if I didn’t know you so well, I would be shocked at your language. Did you curse at him the same way?” Despite the jovial nature of his question, Kalinda knew he was trying to pry information out of her. She scowled at him.
“Yeah, when he did dumb shit like this to me.”
He stood. “Good, now we’re getting somewhere.”
He struck the opposite thigh from where he’d hit earlier without warning. The muffled feel of pain through her jeans and its lingering warmth had her drawing in a sharp breath as it made her pussy begin to throb once more.
“Master!” Her plea for more went unheeded while he stood there waiting for her to continue.
Taking a deep breath, she wet her lips before slowly continuing. “The first time I chewed him out was because of Nisey.”
“Go on.” Keeping his arms folded over his chest, he waited.
“She’d just begun her relationship with Caelan, but as usual, Josh was being an ass by trying to lure her away. Any fool could see that my brother was perfect for her.”
“How did that make you feel, slave?” His dark brown eyes were firm and she knew he expected her to answer him. Glancing at the flogger in his hand, she mentally debated with herself. If she gave him what he wanted, she knew he’d give her what she needed. Could she risk it? The idea of exposing the part of her that had been hurt by Josh’s actions to another man who could possibly hurt her even worse than Josh had, had her wanting to clam up. But she wanted the flogger he was holding, striking against her skin and bringing the unique pleasure-pain she’d grown to love.