Ailsa bit her lip on the retort she wanted to give. Antagonizing him now wouldn’t be a good move. If she upset him later, that was just tough.
“Jeff, you’re being a prick,” Aidan said in a conversational tone. “Give her a chance, and then sound off on one if you see the need. Remember, Ailsa’s put her job on the line for you. The least you can do is have the courtesy to listen.”
“Eh?” Jeff had the grace to look somewhat ashamed. “Yeah, ‘kay. This way.”
“If that’s consideration, never let me be near him when he’s not in a considerate mood,” Ailsa said as they followed Jeff into a lounge where Jess, Kath and David sat. None of them looked much more welcoming than Jeff had.
Ailsa sighed. It was going to be a long evening. Her tummy rumbled and she took her notebook, pencil and oat bar out.
“No, don’t eat it if you can hold on ‘til you’ve talked,” Kath said. “There’s chili and rice ready for us.”
Ailsa obligingly put the bar down. She sighed again and took a deep breath. Aidan winked and sat on a chair as near to her as he could. He tapped his lap. “Want a seat?”
“I wish. Later maybe,” she said in a low voice. Then she raised it. “Right so let me introduce myself properly. My name is Ailsa McLagan. I’m a police inspector attached to a special squad who are tasked to do jobs that perhaps are not run of the mill. I met Jess by accident, just after I’d been detailed to try and find out if anything”—she hesitated—“nefarious or illegal was occurring in here. We were tipped off that something illegal was happening inside Diomhair. Because I knew the castle from childhood, I was detailed to get inside and see what I could find out.” She smiled. “And also, I suspect, to keep my boss out of it. I can tell you now, I saw nothing untoward inside, but why on earth was a white van parked outside that half-ruined cottage set off the drive?”
Jeff shot up out of his chair like a bullet from a rifle.
“When?”
Chapter Eleven
“Several times. Once I had to hide whilst it drove along the front drive and out of the back. Why?”
“Someone in a white van knocked Kath over when she was pregnant. It was a woman.”
“Well it wasn’t me.” Alisa stared at Jeff who looked anywhere but at her.
Aidan glared at Jeff, who flushed and sat down again. He had a right to be angry, but truculence directed at Ailsa was a waste of energy.
“I didn’t say it was.” Jeff ran his hand through his hair, and Aidan could see the worry in his eyes and in his stance. “But happenstance and all that. Breaking in, white vans, someone digging and moving stuff around in the grounds. Then you pop up so conveniently. Well.” He shrugged. “Even I can add two and two together.”
“And make twenty. Arsehole, do I really have to admit you’re my brother?” Jess asked. She was sitting on David’s lap and even his pinch to her arm didn’t faze her. “Well, listen to him, Sir. He sounds like a dong, not a Dom.”
Jeff lifted his shoulders and spread his hands out in supplication. “God, I’m sorry, but this should be a happy time. The club is successful. My sister is accepting what she is. We have two healthy babies, and I’m soon going to be a husband as well as a Master.”
“If you stop behaving like a right royal prick you will be,” Kath said. “Seriously, Jeff, you should hear yourself. Whine, whinge, woe is me. Grow a pair. Listen to the inspector and then throw the dummy out if you need to, not before.”
Aidan loved it. Women power was alive and well, even in the lifestyle.
“Go ahead, Inspector. Ignore those who are talking out of their arse.” Kath tugged on Jeff’s T-shirt and pulled him back into a seat. “This is where I wish I was a switch, and had a ball gag handy.”
Jeff laughed and kissed her. It seemed his good humor was restored. Aidan was glad. He suspected it was going to be hard enough for Ailsa as it was without open hostility.
Ailsa smiled. “Thank you. Right, so to reiterate, we were given a tip-off that the castle was being used for something illegal—nothing specific, but more than likely narcotics. We’ve known for a long while drugs were coming through this area but not exactly where and how. The tip-off hinted it was here, inside the castle. I was asked to get in and have a look around. Which I did, and found nothing illegal or untoward. I was on the last visit I intended to make when I was busted. Luckily for me, Aidan accepted I was a missing sub. Or decided to give me enough rope to hang myself. When he asked how I wanted to play, I gave in to temptation. Of course, as he told me later, he had no intention of doing anything of the sort, until Ross and Connie reappeared.”
“Ah, Connie, the WPC. Is she in on this as well?” Jeff asked. “She was open about her profession, and I’d hate to think it was all for this.”
Ailsa shook her head. Aidan noticed that now she was talking about her work, she was calm and confident.
“No, she was as shocked to see me as I was her. I don’t know half of the local force, but we’d worked together on a case a fair while ago. The only thing I did do was pull rank over her, and insisted on confidentiality. So, that’s it in a nutshell. My boss is now certain that you and the castle are in the clear. We don’t know what’s going on in the grounds, but with your permission we would like to be around to see. And yes, we probably could have done it without you knowing, but I advised that in this instance you should know. It could be an employee. It could be major. It could be someone burying the proceeds of a wee breaking and entering. We don’t know if it’s anything to do with our tip-off or not. That’s all I know.” She leaned against Aidan. He felt the shivers and trembles that she was doing her best to hide.
“Well done, pet. Good girl.” He hugged her then cleared his throat. “Over to you now, Jeff. If you want us to leave we will do. If you want us to stay, likewise. And if you don’t mind later, we might like to borrow a dungeon for a while.”
“Sir.” Ailsa’s tone was reproachful. It was a measure of her agitation that she had slipped into Dom/sub mode without, it seemed, any hesitation. “Not here, please.”
“Pardon, pet? Who’s topping from the bottom?”
She bit her lip and to his dismay her eyes were full of tears. “Quack.”
Oh shit, fuck and bugger. Aidan noticed the others were staring at them. After a quick look at David, and getting a brief nod, Jess got off David’s lap and walked across to them.
“Sir, my Sir says may I take Ailsa with me to get our supper ready?”
Aidan nodded. It was a good way to defuse the situation and maybe Ailsa would confide in Jess and get sub-to-sub guidance. Sometimes Aidan wondered just where a woman’s mind went. Mind you, he thought fairly, men weren’t a lot better.
“Of course. Okay, pet?”
Ailsa nodded. “Yes, thank you, Sir.” Her voice was hardly above a whisper. Where was his confident, in charge Ailsa now? He accepted he’d been in the wrong. She’d said before she wasn’t happy scening in public, and how was she to know he’d wanted a dungeon for the two of them to talk in, so he could explain about all the various aspects of the club? To show her what he meant by scribing, but not hurting her, and to perhaps then and only then play a little with or without a Dungeon Master. As friends, each of them could play alone, just like they did at home. Of course maybe they hadn’t gotten to that stage, but after their little session earlier, Aidan had hoped they had.
Aidan kissed her cheek. “Trust me, pet. It’s maybe not what you think.” He wasn’t used to explaining himself. Once again Aidan had to remind himself how green Ailsa was with regards to the lifestyle. “Talk your worries over with Jess. Then we can chat. In a dungeon. Alone.”
Her eyes widened and she let her head bend downwards. “I’ve jumped to conclusions, haven’t I, Sir?”
“Yes, but I did nothing to help you. We both have a lot to learn. Go on, get my supper, woman.” He rubbed his stomach in a way that any actor would be proud of. “Feed my stomach so we can feed my soul later.” He patted her bum, not even hard enough to sti
ng.
Ailsa rolled her eyes. “Pitiful. Okay, Sir, gone.” She followed Jess to the door, giggling as she went.
Aidan looked at the others. Kath put her fingers in her ears. “I’m deaf. Anyway I need to go and check on the babies. You can go all Dommly and brag amongst yourselves. Give me a hand up, Jeff. I’m rig welted here.” The expression used by farmers to say a sheep couldn’t get up was one Aidan hadn’t heard for ages, but watching Kath trying to get to her feet, it seemed apt. She went out of the room, and the three men looked at each other.
“Apart from the fact we’re being cussed from here to the capital and back, and being trashed along with it, what the fuck is going on?” David asked as he poured three whiskies out.
“Not for me, I’m driving,” Aidan said.
“Rubbish. We’ve both got spare rooms. Relax, let your lady relax and understand we’re not all whips and chains, and let’s try to sort some of this shit out.”
* * * *
“Any idea what really is going on? Sub to sub, friend to friend and sod the men?” Jess walked around the kitchen, taking out plates and cutlery as easily as if it was her own flat, not her brother’s. “Damn, where does Kath keep the chutney?”
“In the fridge?”
“Yeah, ta. So?”
Ailsa shrugged. “Not a lot. I covered it all, I think.”
“Except the bit about a certain high heid yin policeman and his wife being members.” Kath came into the room with Grey in her arms. “Lola’s still asleep so I’ve brought him with me so he doesn’t wake her up. He forever needs top-ups. Typical male. I do the records.”
“Ah well, you’ve confirmed what I suspected,” Ailsa said. “Male wise and everything else. But I didn’t know for sure. It was just the way he winked and said Aidan would be good for me that made me wonder.”
“And will he be?” Kath latched the baby on, and held him tight. “He’s a good man and, I think, a good Dom. We’ve got to know him well since he began to help out.”
“I hope so. I didn’t know what I wanted or needed until he showed me. But I do know I don’t want or need it in public.”
“Why? You scened in front of Ross and Connie, didn’t you? What’s the difference?” Kath asked as she burped Grey and swapped him to the other nipple. “This one is a snacker, I tell you. Lola now will stay on one side for ages. Not my boy. Sorry, so what is the difference?”
“I don’t know. Oh grief, it’s just the all mixed up learning curve. I don’t want people seeing my boobs and going ‘Ohh you don’t get many of those to the pound’.”
“What?” Jess put down the knife she was holding and looked at Ailsa in amazement. “What crap are you spouting now?”
“My boobs. Hell, they grew and I didn’t.”
Jess shook her head. “For a supposedly intelligent woman you don’t half talk a load of bullshit. What are you, 36D? Double D?”
“Double D. But I’m only five feet two.”
“And your point is? Lordy, Ailsa, none of us are satisfied with what we’ve got, but it’s how we use it that matters. If your boobs are the perfect handful for your Sir, what else do you need?”
“Ah, but I don’t know if they are. Hell, Jess, we’ve made love once and scened once, that’s all.”
“Well, think of the fun you can have showing him how they fit him.” Jess was unrepentant. “Remember, we, the subs, have the power to make or break the relationship. Don’t break it just to see if you can.”
Ailsa nodded thoughtfully. Was that what she was doing? She made her mind up.
“If I go in and respectfully ask Aidan to play with me, will you be there for support?”
“Just in there or in the dungeon? Oh you’d better go and say something right away, because I saw Jeff getting whiskey out and offering you both a room for the night.”
“In the dungeon. And yes, best do it now before I lose my nerve.” Her tummy rumbled again. “At least I can’t lose my dinner, I haven’t had any.”
“Here.” Jess handed her a banana. “That’ll keep you going.”
Ailsa swallowed it in four bites. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Chapter Twelve
Aidan looked up from the whiskey he hadn’t touched as Ailsa entered the room without any food and walked across the carpet toward him. She knelt and assumed the perfect position. Behind her Jess did the same to David.
“I would if I could, but I have Grey so I can’t. Consider it done, though,” Kath said as she carried her feeding son in with her. She settled in her chair. The only noise was the slurp of a contented baby. It seemed this time he wanted more than a top-up.
Aidan touched Ailsa’s shoulder. “Do you want to say something, pet?” Her sensuous perfume, with hints of musk and spices, surrounded her and Aidan guessed it had just been applied. To make her feel good about herself and give her courage?
She looked up at him and swallowed. As ever, the ripple of her muscles called to him in the most primitive way possible and his cock swelled.
“Please, Sir.”
“Go on then.” Aidan would never call himself fanciful, but he would have said that the air was heavy with expectation.
“Please, Sir. May we play? And have our friends as our audience?”
Whatever he had thought she was going to say, it wasn’t that. He set the whiskey down carefully. “In what way, pet?” Out of the corner of his eyes he saw both Jess and Kath watching carefully.
Then David winked at him and Jeff gave a thumbs-up.
“Well, Sir. When I first met you, you asked if I wanted wax or scribing. I’ve had the wax, so…” Her voice trailed off. Then she cleared her throat. “Will you do me the honor of scribing me, Sir?”
Aidan felt tears come to his eyes. He blinked rapidly at her simple but emotional words.
“Will you do the honor of letting us see if we can have a relationship? Even though our friendship, lovers, Dom/sub life is very new. Are you willing to try?” He’d forgotten the others. His whole being was focused on Ailsa. “Will you let me look after you, be your Sir, within our defined relationship? Help us learn together? One day perhaps be collared and mine, all mine?”
Her eyes were shining, and he reckoned she was as near to tears—hopefully tears of happiness—as he was.
“Yes please, Sir.”
Behind her both Jess and Kath sniffed. Aidan looked at David and Jeff and grinned.
“Gentlemen, we have a dungeon to set up. Pets, you have half an hour. Then please present my pet to me in…” He looked at Jeff.
“The green dungeon,” Jeff said. “And we’ll go with protocol, please.”
The three men walked out.
“I don’t know what protocol is,” Ailsa said. “I’m scared.”
“It’s nothing awful. No wife or sub swapping and no playing with each other’s sub,” Jess said as she stood up. “Come on. Kath has to feed and settle the babies before she can even think of joining us. And even then, don’t pout, love, you know what I’m going to say is true, she might not be allowed to do more than sit at the back with the baby monitor in her ear. That way if they wake up she won’t disturb you if she has to go out. Protocol is clothes and discipline. I’ll talk you through it whilst we get changed.”
“I’ve got nothing to change into,” Ailsa said as she trailed behind Jess in the direction she knew would take them to the female changing area.
“I bet you have,” Jess opened the door and peered inside a locker with its door ajar. “Told you. We have a shop on site, and I thought Aidan would have paid it a visit, just in case. Oh my, this is lovely, look.” She took out two items of clothing.
Ailsa looked as she was bidden and burst out laughing. “Well, I know he said he wanted to see me in a leather thong and bustier, but I didn’t think it would be quite so soon.”
“It’s fantastic. If you want privacy to change, there’s a wee room over there, but don’t mind me.” Jess took her top and jeans off so fast, Ailsa blinked. Within a few seconds Jess wor
e nothing but a tiny, tiny frill of a skirt and a low bra that barely covered her nipples. She must have felt Ailsa’s gaze on her.
“Ha, a year ago you wouldn’t have got me out of jeans and a top for a king’s ransom. Now normally I wouldn’t wear the top. But I love David and he loves me, and if he says braless, I’m all for it. Tonight I think it’s let’s ease Ailsa in gently. But seriously, think about it. What’s wrong with topless? After all, we’re all built on the same chassis. Well, women are one way and then men are in another. Do you need help?”
“No,” Ailsa said slowly. She’d never thought of it quite like that. She took a deep breath—she seemed to be doing that a lot these days—and stripped down to her bra and pants.
“Honey, with the best will in the world, you can’t wear a lacy bra and a pair of granny pants under that. Do you wax?”
Ailsa jerked out of her reverie. Was she going to wake up and find this was all a wet dream and she’d need her vibrator?
“Jess, do me a favor. Pinch me.”
“Sure.”
Jess obliged and Ailsa felt the sharp nip. Not asleep then.
“Okay, yes, I wax. Down to a landing strip anyway. I’ve never been brave enough to dare to be bare.”
“You will. Hurry up we’ve not got long.”
Whether to spare Ailsa’s blushes, or because she wanted to tie back her hair using a mirror, Jess walked to the other end of the room. Ailsa stripped her underwear off and pulled on the tiny scrap of leather that fitted where it touched and didn’t leave a lot to the imagination. Then she looked at the bustier. She would never get her boobs in that.
“I don’t think this is big enough.” She pulled it on and held the edges together. “I need another six inches of leather.”
“Nah, turn round.” Jess loosened some strings and tied the rest over Ailsa’s breasts. At least four inches of boob and chest showed in a long strip down the front.
Secrets Remembered Page 9