by Jo Raven
I nodded, feel a surge of empowerment. “You’re right.”
The next day, I went to the club to find Jason and talk to him.
A lady at the desk told me he was off for the day.
I turned to leave to go to his place and smiled when I spotted Tex outside bringing in cases of drinks. “Tex! Hi. I was just looking for Jason, but he’s off today. Since I’m able-bodied and not bloody now, I can lend you a hand if you need it?”
He gave me a one-over like he couldn’t recall who I was. I saw the light bulb illuminate in his eyes. “Ah, the cutie with the skinned knees. Did you end up with a nice rosy heat on that tush?”
I laughed. “A real nice blush, applied by Master J. Thanks for pushing me and for asking.”
“No problem. Get ’em while you can. You doin’ all right, hon, since the mugging? Heard the bastard got shot during a money grab on some granny with a shotgun. You don’t mess with grannies.”
“No. You’re right. No one would mess with my granny either. She’s a force to be reckoned with.” I grabbed a pack of Gatorade from the back of a truck and followed him into the club. It looked a lot less freaky in the daytime with hardly anyone in it.
He led me to a storage room and pointed out where he wanted the case set down. “Right there. Hey now! You’re his subbie dancer in Chrysalis. Hot show. I think it just might change outside opinion about what we do in Kinkland.”
“Yep. That’s me. You really think it’s hot?”
“Indeed.”
“Thanks. I hope it does change opinion.”
He bopped my arm with the back of his hand and wiggled his finger at me to follow him for another run. “So, are you the one responsible for the step-down of our most popular House Dom? He’s been here almost four years and was the one who started up all the roleplay fantasy stuff and kinky parties that finally put us on the map, so I never expected him to give up that action.”
“No, I don’t know what you mean.” I shook my head, keeping stride with him. “He stepped down? The lady at the computer said he had the day off. Is he taking more time than that?”
“Oh, no, he’s on, honey, but he’s a Dungeon Master now. Except for spanking on the balcony, he’s off private play, hence the lady-sobbing you’ll likely hear at my bar from now on when you come to XX at night.”
“Dungeon Master? What’s that? What does he do if he’s not dominating?”
“He monitors scenes and floor activities to make sure nothing non-con or out-of-hand is goin’ on and that no shitty wannabe Doms are prowling for or using subs in the wrong way. He’ll toss ’em out if they are.”
I squinted in irritation. “But, why’s he no longer dominating? That’s his life. His job! He has to dominate. He loves to be a hero. He told me that.” I hope Jason didn’t stop because of me. The very last thing I want to be is a killer to his pleasure and delight.
“Beats me, sugar.” He was smirking at me now, checking me out. “Maybe he’s found his real sub in ballet shoes. It’d be my guess.”
“Huh, no, no, this can’t happen. I have to talk to him.”
“Might be hard to reach. He’s at Tri-County Children’s Hospital today with his niece, Lily Mint.”
“What! What happened to his niece?”
“Sorry. Didn’t tell me in his call-out message, but he didn’t sound frantic about it.”
“Ohmygod.” I set the case down on top of his and brushed my hands, so I could shake his. “Thanks! Thank you so much, Tex.”
“Thanks for the help.”
“No problem.” I left of the club and rushed to the hospital.
But when I got there, I wasn’t even sure where to go. The lobby was massive with three different receptionist desks. I pivoted this way and that, trying to figure out which one to go to. In all my confusion, I almost knocked over a girl, about ten, with semi-healed burns on the upper part of her face. Some of her hair was gone. The sadness on her face when I looked her in the eye broke my heart. “Sorry. Didn’t see you there. I’m lost. Are you lost? Why are you all alone?”
She scrunched her lips. “No, I’m not lost. My mom’s just setting up out-patient burn care for me, and my nurse left to get me a wheelchair. It’s so dumb they make you wheel out. Too bad they don’t give face masks instead.”
“No way. Why would you want a mask? Then your pretty smile would be covered, and why would you wanna hide that?”
“I look so ugly.”
My lips curled down when she dropped her gaze to the floor and tears rolled down her face. “No, no, you’re not ugly. In fact, I was just thinking your eyes have so much sparkle. You have this inner radiance that shines through. That’s what I noticed most about you?”
“Really? People are gonna cringe when they see me.”
“I didn’t, did I?”
“No. But I can tell you’re nice.”
“I was more sad thinking about your pain, than I was grossed out, I swear. Some people might cringe, not gonna lie. Some people might be mean too. There are some haters in the world. But you just have to surround yourself with people who don’t care, people who will remind you how amazing and special you are every day. You’ve come this far, so I know you can let people see your all-over beauty and not reduce you to the scars on your face. You will rock it and be amazing. I totally believe it. Okay?” I bopped her chin lightly to nudge her gaze up.
“Okay.” She looked me in the eye and then rushed me with an arm wrap that made me cry. She sniffled against my chest as I held her. “Thank you. I feel so much better.”
We waved to each other before a nurse wheeled her out with her mom.
“Thank you,” the mom said with a soft smile and the pain and burden of a hellish road ahead already in her eyes.
Breaking down when they left, I took a deep breath and puffed air out of the tight circle of my lips.
When the nurse came back in, she pointed me to the right desk.
The young receptionist there gasped and her eyes lit up when I approached. She cried, “Oh my gosh, it is you. I just heard what you said, and that was so touching. He was so right about you. I’ll put in a good word. Hope it all works out.”
“Excuse me? Who was? What are you talking about?”
“Your Sunshine Program! I heard J.D. Delaney walking by with the administrator before you walked in. He was trying to convince her that his dancer’s program would be the perfect addition to our events. I agree! That’s you, right?”
“Yep, me. He was here? Just now? Where’d he go?”
“Cafeteria I think. Downstairs anyway.”
“Thanks!”
I went to leave and she cried, “Wait!”
I spun back.
“I hope this isn’t too imposing, but could I get your autograph?”
“Mine?” I slapped my breastbone.
“If you wouldn’t mind.” She held up a cardboard sleeve to me. “Please?” He chose a pic of us where I’m in a split being bent back in his arm as he hunches to the side and hand-cradles my face. I was naked when we first did it, and we re-shot it dressed in black with me in those gorgeous wings he made me. Our faces showed need and rapture.
It made me tear up. I missed feeling that. I cleared my throat. I felt gooey inside that people loved our sizzle. I smiled as I scrawled my name and handed it back then wiped tears away. “Here ya go.”
“Thanks. This is so hot. The song and the video. Are you two a couple?”
I shrugged. “No, not yet. I’m working on that. That’s why I’m here. Bye.”
“Bye.” She cried out, “Good luck,” when I took off to find the love of my life.
I bobbed my heel in the elevator and dashed out. My breath caught and I slowed my stride when I saw Jason slumped over in one of the four pink leather chairs against the side wall in the cafeteria. His forearms were on his knees. Oh no! I dreaded the news. He loudly huffed, ran his hand over his head and whipped it through his hair.
“Jason! Ohmygosh! I heard you were here. Is Lil
y okay?”
He sat up and grinned slyly when he spotted me. Cocky asshole. God, I missed him. He stood. “Yeah, she’s fine. Appendicitis, but she’s out of recovery. Just talked to her.”
I clasped fingers together and sighed. “Uh, thank God. I was praying the whole way over.”
“Thanks. What are you doin’ here? Addison said you never wanted to see me and threatened to unleash hellfire on me if I stayed. I haven’t given up. I’m just giving you some space.”
“I don’t want space. It’s pretty impossible to stay away from you or stop thinking about you when everyone keeps reminding me of us, when everything reminds me of you. The night sky. Hairbrushes. Roses. Eggs. Mints. The video’s really taking off, huh?”
“Yep. My music too. Told ya you’d make me famous.”
“Why aren’t you dominating anymore?”
“What?”
“At the club? You can’t do that!”
“What do you mean I can’t? It’s done.”
“But … you have to dominate. It feeds you.”
“How on earth could I ever convince you how much I want and need you if I have a line of other women to shove under my boot? I really couldn’t see a solution when I went in to talk to Bill, the club owner, but he changed my position to a monitor and bouncer, as well as a party host during the week. I don’t do private scenes, but I sometimes work spank shift on the balcony. I can’t dominate one-on-one if I can’t give a woman my undivided attention. I need to be checked in to do that. And you’re the only thing I think about.”
I smiled. “You only want me under your boot? Aww, I’m so touched.”
“Brat. Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, I heard you. To paraphrase, I have you by the nuts.”
“Indeed you do. Can’t stop thinking about you. You, Babydoll … consume me. You feed me and make me whole and ground me.”
“You rearranged your life for me?”
“I had to. I want and need you in it. Without you, I am broken, less, empty, and bored out of my mind. I need someone who gets under my skin and challenges me and makes me so damn mad and in the next breath can take me to paradise. What I really need, crave, love more than anything, is you. You’re the only one I want to be dominating.” His expression grew pained. “Shay, I’m truly sorry for what I did. I was such an asshole.”
“I know you’re sorry. I’m still livid and crushed over what you did. But I miss my Asshole.”
“Can you ever forgive me? I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you, if you just give me the chance.”
“Life? You want me for life?”
“Well, there’s no way I’m fucking proposing in a cafeteria, but yes, that’s what I want. When Sherry, the clerk, told me you weren’t my wife, that should’ve been relieving, but it knocked the wind out of me. I didn’t want that to be true. I wanted and still want you to be mine.”
“I want you as mine too. My fury isn’t lessening my misery any. Having had time to think, I can see your actions didn’t come from a dark place. They came from that part of you that wants to protect and nurture. When I was crying in your bed, begging you for sex, I can see that you caved because it hurt you to see me like that and you wanted to soothe me and give me the more pleasant experience you knew you could provide. And when you stomped on my program, you were thinking of how much these supposedly loving people hurt your sister in her darkest hour. So, I get it. I get you, Jason.”
He took hold of my arm, ushering me into the hall. Facing me, he took hold of my arms. “Look. I can’t take back making love to you when I didn’t have the right, I know that, and although it was a really shitty thing to do, I don’t know that I would take it back because it was honestly the greatest, loveliest moment of my life.”
“It was?” I asked. “For me too,” I muttered in honesty.
“I’m trying to make that project shutdown up to you though. I’m still working out the logistics of my plan, but I really think you’re gonna love it.”
I refrained from telling him I already knew and was bursting with happiness about it. “Thank you so much for trying. That means the world to me, to know you support me. Even though you’ve done some dickish things, your big heart is one of the things I fell in love with. I miss that. And I miss you. I’m sorry I stood you up for prom. And that I chucked your roses in the trash.”
“What! You chucked my roses? I went on a quest for you, Shayna! I wasn’t kidding about that. This one florist was so rude, insulting my color choice, trying to direct me to the common red ones because they are supposedly the only roses that mean love. How can they possibly prove love more gallantly if you don’t even have to fight to find...”
I seized his shirt collar and rose up on my toes to mash my lips against his. When I let him go, I said, “Aww, you fought a dragon for me, just to make me smile? So sweet.”
“Nah, you know I only did it ’cause I wanted to get into your panties again, right?”
I laughed. “You would, Asshole. I love you.”
He chuckled too, yanking me into his arms. “Love you too,” He claimed my mouth with his, grabbing my face, twisting our sensual ballet into a wild, flourishing forest.
I glanced to the side. In the clear to make a move, I slid my hand up his thigh and scratched his package.
He seized my wrist. “Hey! What do ya think you’re doin’, slut?”
“Playing with what’s mine.”
“You can’t, Sunshine. I’m … waiting.” He laughed and let my arm go.
“Waiting? Hell!”
“We’re doing things right this time.”
I ignored him, continuing my action, sliding a finger down to his balls. Everyone says an angel and a devil don’t belong together, but I could no longer tell which one of us was which. Maybe we’re both a lot devil and a little angel. I could live with that. I really liked being a devil.
“I am not kidding, Shayna.”
“Yeah right.” My playful laugh turned into a gasp when he clutched my arm and marched me to a unisex bathroom, I assumed to get busy. No. Wrong.
He was scowling as he shoved me in and closed the door behind us.
“Jason, what are you doing?” I cried, knowing exactly.
“I was serious about that. We’re going to wait until two rings are gracing your finger before we get that frisky again. Got that? You know what happens to disobedient girls, Shayna.”
“You cannot be serious.”
He clutched my cheeks, puckering my lips to a fishy-face. I trembled and my walls throbbed and fluttered. “You think I’m kidding?”
Good lord! I shook my head. No, no, no. He wasn’t kidding. He was deadly serious. He was going to turn me back into an angel right now, in a hospital bathroom, where other people will likely hear him painting my pale ass cupcake pink if I’m lucky, fiery red, if I’m not. My heart raced and my eyes bugged out. I gulped, shook my head. “Um, no, Sir.”
I know punishment’s not supposed to turn me on, but when he leaned closer and placed his lips by my ear, nothing had ever hit me more moltenly hotter than his warm breath and the three-word order, “Drop your pants.” He pulled back and stared me down.
My face and cunt sizzled. Jason’s eyes gleamed and his terse lips curved up at one corner when I placed my fingers on either side of my button and said, “Yes, Sir.”
* * *
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When Addison Montgomery gets captured after chucking eggs at a mansion at the demand of her sorority sisters in a hazing ritual, she ends up over the knees of the rich man’s son, Logan, a hot junior at her college, who scorches her loins with his deep, sexy voice and ease of command. As he’s wonderfully setting her cheeks on fire and soaking her panties with his words of chastisement, the sub in her can feel the Dom in him, and she knows she has to have him. THIS guy. The hot, assertive, insistent Lo
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228,000 words. 18+ please. Not glitter kink.
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* * *
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ABOUT DAIZIE DRAPER
*** USA Today Bestselling Author ***
Daizie Draper is a happily married sex fiend, who loves to write naughty stories that mix the sweetness of chocolate with the bite of leather. She likes sensuality, kink, fruit, impressionistic art, spanking and beauty. She hates big bugs, freedom crushers, injustice, artificial orange and onions. Along with 27 other people in the world, she has never read Fifty Shades of Grey.
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Table of Contents
Red Hot Alphas
MICAH (DAMAGE CONTROL 1)
by Jo Raven
SOMEBODY TO LOVE
(ROCK STARS IN DISGUISE: TRYP)
by Blair Babylon
HOT PURSUIT
by Olivia Rigal
MEETING MR. STEELE