Claimed: The Decadence Club

by Alyssa Clark

  “You’re lucky,” she said evenly. “Mr. Franklin agreed to allow a bigger audience. Just so we’re clear,” she gave me a hard look, “you’re observing only. You will not be participating, and if you try to take any enjoyment out of it, there will be repercussions.”

  The seriousness of her tone set me on edge.

  I follow her back through the door into the dark hallway. I found a new door cut at the end of the sharp turn that usually leads to the other three rooms. Angela opened it without saying another word and lead me through it.

  The warehouse that the club is in is a good size, and the club took up only a fraction of it. Already I could see framework up like there were more rooms planned but not finished. Or maybe they were still being worked on. It was hard to say. This was the first time since being hired that I’d been here during the day.

  Finally, I could see where she was leading me. There was a bright light that lit up the entire area, but I wasn’t quite able to see what I was going to look at. When we stepped out of the framed out hallway, there was no missing it.

  A man was in a bright ring of light, his hands cuffed up over his head and held there by a rope hung from the rafters. He was stripped naked, and I immediately felt uncomfortable by seeing another man in such a vulnerable position. I couldn’t look at him, so I opted to glare at Angela’s back.

  “It’s a man!” I blurted out.

  She stopped to look back at me. “What were you expecting?”

  “Not a fucking man,” I growled at her.

  “Oh, so it would be better if it were a woman?” She raised her eyebrows. “You think only women can be subjugated and strung up into a position like this? You think a man wouldn’t want something like this?”

  “I’m not asking for some feminist bullshit lecture,” I protested.

  She stepped back to me, and without much warning she slapped me, hard enough to make my cheek sting and to knock some fucking sense into me. “This,” she snarled at me, “is not about feminism or misandry or misogyny. If you’re going to make some sort of political statement out of this, you can leave. This is a private moment between two consenting adults where the woman happens to be in control of the situation, and the man is in a position where he is being controlled. You asked for help, I offered to help you. My day is full observing Linda and Mr. Franklin while they explore their scene. Mr. Franklin,” her tone twisted from being commanding to level as she explained the situation, “decided to be giving and allowed you to see this as a learning experience. If you are going to judge him then, you can leave.”

  Damn. I blinked at her, trying to keep from rubbing my battered cheek. She ripped me a verbal new one. I didn’t have a response, so I just awkwardly stood there as she glared.

  “Do you want to watch and see if you can’t garner something from the scene?” she asked, still sounding pissed.

  “Uh,” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah.”

  “Good.” She waved to a set of chairs that were out of the line of light. “Have a seat. Understand that if you’re going to make a scene that further interrupts them, you will be asked to leave.”

  I was struck by how serious this was. I didn’t expect it. I nodded and decided the best course of action would be to stay silent. She turned away from me, seeming satisfied, and led me to the seats she had indicated before.

  She sat with an irritated noise and gave me a glare until I sat beside her. This was the first time I’d see her in any sort of element like this, and it threw me off. I had no problem seeing her as a boss, she had that commanding air, and she drove it easily. But the way she completely shut me down was serious.

  I sat down and uneasily look toward the strung up man. I don’t want to take it in, and I don’t want to think about why I’m bothered by the fact that it's a man in this position. I saw Linda, the woman I met when I first applied for this job, standing off to the side. She was in a similar state of dress as Angela, lingerie, but not as much leather.

  I didn’t know if this was a test of fate, putting me in a position where I was with two scantily clad women. I wasn’t tempted, not seeing another man strung up. If anything I found myself wondering if I should be afraid. Should I be? I glanced at Angela, and I could see her full attention was on what was going on in front of us. This is why she had people kneeling before her?

  “Continue,” Angela said, her tone not so severe. “He won’t create another outburst.”

  “He?” The restrained man croaked, that’s when I noticed he was blindfolded. “You wouldn’t bring Clarke in here for this.” There was a note of desperation in his words. “I won’t have that piss ant seeing me like this!”

  “Allen,” Linda hissed before she struck him hard across his middle. It ended the tirade with a gasp of pain. “Silence. If you can’t remain quiet, I will get the ball gag.”

  “Tell me,” it came out in a weak whimper, “she didn’t bring Matthew here.”

  “She didn’t.” Linda’s voice went soothing as she closed the distance between them and reached up to stroke his face. “She brought an employee in to learn how to do this. You’re a teaching tool. Now if you’re a good boy, I will make sure that you agreeing to this will give you a good reward.”

  “I don’t want him touching me,” came the weak reply from Allen. “Just you.”

  “I don’t want to,” I muttered to myself. I got glares from both women.

  “No one,” Linda’s voice rose so that it echoed in the bare space, “gets to touch you but me. Because you belong to me. Okay?”

  Allen made a relieved noise and sighed into her touch. “Okay.”

  There was something about it that reminded me of the claim I’d made on Tabitha. Was this what it looked like to an outsider?

  “Now,” Linda looked at me for a long moment, “I am punishing him for his outburst as well as past transgressions since the last time he and I were able to take a moment for this.” She looked back to the man she had naked and tied up. “If you have questions feel free to ask them. I don’t mind answering them.”

  “I’ll take care of his questions,” Angela interjected. “You worry about Mr. Franklin, that’s more important.”

  “Very well.” Linda didn’t look as pleased, but she directed her attention back to Allen. She had a whip in her hand, though it wasn’t really a whip instead of the long tail there were strips of leather. She leaned forward and struck him, much like she had the first time. It was hard enough to draw a noise from him and make him jerk back then waiver.

  She kept up a quick succession of blows, and I tried to draw my attention away from it. I noticed that there was a bar between his ankles, keeping his legs apart and probably keeping his balance uneven. There was a plastic thing around his dick, too, that I unwillingly took in.

  “What the fuck is that?” Just looking at it made my own cock ache in sympathy. It didn’t look comfortable.

  “What?’ Angela spared me a glance before looking back at Linda and Allen. “The flogger? The thing she is hitting him with?”

  “No,” I grunted. “The thing on his dick.”

  “That’s a cage.” She didn’t look back at me as she spoke. Did she get off on watching this? “It’s something that keeps the penis in place and prevents erections.”

  “You think he could get an erection from that?” I asked because it sounded insane. Who would get off on that?

  She looked at me, her eyebrows drawn down. “I know he could. It's happened before. Some people draw enjoyment from pain. Mr. Franklin particularly enjoys being tied up in odd positions while he’s spanked or whipped. Believe it or not,” she nodded towards the couple as she spoke to me, “the cage is more of a punishment than anything Linda might actually do to him.”

  I grimaced because it wasn’t something I understood and I got the feeling the more I watched the display, the less likely I would.

  “Don’t try to understand the why.” I looked back at her to find her watching me. “Because you’re probably not goin
g to. You are just helping her fulfill her fantasies and garnering enjoyment from it where you can.”

  And she’s going to enjoy shit like this? I looked back them, and I saw that Linda had circled him, hitting him soundly on his back and ass. Looking between them I couldn’t really tell who was getting off on it more. Linda’s eyes were alight with something that I could only describe as frightening, but Allen had his teeth were clenched into his lip as he prepared for each blow.

  “Fitzgerald!” Allen cried out, and both women went into action.

  I was surprised how quickly they moved. Linda went to work on removing the cage, and Angela removed the bar between his legs then went to lower him to the floor. It was carefully done, and they took care of him together. The attentiveness to causing him the pain was just as prominent as it was in taking care of him.

  Now he was crumpled on the floor with his head in Linda’s lap. She stroked his hair and back as if she were soothing a frightened child. I heard her gently murmuring to him, “You did so well, love. You made me so happy that you could take your punishment with someone else watching.”

  I sat, transfixed.

  “It’s not just about pleasure and pain.” Angela stood close to Linda, but was speaking to me. “It’s about trust, too. So, if you intend to go down this road with Ms. Sullivan… you need to make sure you have her trust, and you need to make sure you don’t violate it.”

  It felt like a weight was placed on my shoulders. “What if I can’t do it?”

  What if I can’t give her what they had? What if I couldn’t trust myself to not hurt her? I didn’t like all the ‘what ifs’ and how they made me feel.

  “Then you need to let her know,” Linda said as she continued to stroke Allen’s back. “It’s better to be upfront than it is to lead someone on.” She looked at me. “Honesty will be better for both of you.”

  It was a lot to think on. I didn’t mind spanking her, I didn’t mind fucking her hard and pulling her hair. What had me torn was the amount of emotion I could see flowing between Linda and Allen after it was all over and done.

  These two people loved each other.

  Would I end up like this with Tabitha?

  13

  The work night went through without a hitch. I just found myself looking at every couple, peering through the mirrors that led into the rooms, with a new sort of judgment. I focused more on the interaction between the two, or more, people with a curiosity that I couldn’t explain. There was more to it than just the sexual aspects, though I got the feeling because it was between strangers that the emotion that I saw between Linda and Allen wasn’t as involved here. As far as I could tell the people in the rooms were just strangers experimenting with one another.

  No love was involved.

  I’d been experimenting with Tabitha. I’d been fucking her the way she wanted without any sort of restraint on myself. I’d enjoyed every moment I had with her. I’d enjoyed the challenge of fucking her to the point she went wild and had to cry out about how good it felt only to incur a punishment for it.

  I still owed her punishment. And I wanted to give it to her.

  I was distracted. When I took my post back up at the door, I didn’t really see anything. I was too caught up in all the shit. Did I want a relationship with someone I barely knew? The entire thing was that she would take care of me, and I would take care of her. It didn’t sound like a conventional relationship, but it wasn’t something I’d been opposed to at the time.

  Was I now?

  Just because I saw two other people showing me what the end result could be like?

  I don’t know what frightened me more and it fucking messed me up because I was scared. I was familiar with fear. You don’t get arrested and end up behind bars, even for the short time I did, and not become familiar with fear. I just hadn’t felt it since I got out. I’d been so focused on keeping my nose clean and doing all the shit I needed to do to make sure I didn’t go back to jail.

  But why was I scared of getting close to this girl?

  I didn’t have an answer, and my train of thought derailed.

  A hand curled around one of mine where I had them folded behind my back. It stilled me enough that I actually heard the chatter of the main room over my own thoughts now. I glanced over a shoulder, and I saw Tabitha. She looked small, and she didn’t make any attempt to meet my gaze. She looked cowed, and her fingers were wrapped around mine in a death grip.

  My own fears before were gone. Instead, I took her in without turning. I didn’t expect her to be off, yet. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “He’s here,” she said, but I barely heard her.

  I started to ask before I thought better of it. I knew who ‘he’ was.

  I looked for Kenneth through the crowd of mingling people. It took a minute before I saw him standing by the door that led to the hallway. He was scanning the crowd as I had been before his eyes connected with mine. He raised an eyebrow at me. I motioned him over with a jerk of my chin, and he came to me, looking curious. “What’s up?”

  “There’s a problem outside,” I said to him lowly, and I had to pull Tabitha from behind me. She drug her feet like she didn’t want to move. I had to turn around and move her with a hand on her shoulder. “Take her to Angela and let her know I’m handling it.”

  Kenneth looked confused, but he nodded and took her hand. There was some resistance from her like she didn’t want to leave me. But she gave in all the while giving me a worried look.

  And it bothered me. Fuck, how’d I manage to get here in such a short amount of time?

  I didn’t have time to analyze it, I stepped outside and looked at the parking lot with a degree of irritation. Even with it being dark I could see that the lot was fairly full. That explained the framing I had seen earlier today. Angela had planned small but managed to hit big. I walked out towards the parking lot and tried to spot Tabitha’s sedan.

  I saw the silhouette in the lot before I found her car. A man was bent over it from the passenger side, I couldn't tell what the hell he was trying to do, but when I got closer, I could see a wire hanger in his hand. Was he trying to break into it?

  “You need some help?” I tried my best to shock the shit out of him, and when he jumped, I couldn’t hide the satisfaction I felt.

  It was hard to get the details of his features, but as far as I could tell this guy was a few inches shorter than me. He had a bald head and a dark-colored goatee, light colored eyes that seemed to reflect his irritation with me clearly. He dropped the hanger he was using, and he folded his arms before he leaned back against the car he was trying to break into. “Yeah, sorry man. I locked my keys in my car, and I’m just trying to get them out.”

  If that’d been the case, I’d be familiar with him. I would’ve seen this guy before.

  “This is the parking lot to a club in this building,” I informed him like it wasn’t obvious.

  “Yeah,” he said again, not moving from the car. “I decided to call it an early night and just noticed that I didn’t have my keys.”

  “Funny,” I decided to make another point at the obvious. “Don’t recall seeing you in there.”

  “I doubt you would,” he snapped back at me.

  “Only problem," I snapped as if I were thinking hard about it. “I’m one of the bouncers. Worked the whole night. Didn’t let you in at all. But hey,” I pulled out my phone and opened it up like I was going to send a text, “lemme ask my coworker and see if maybe I missed you.”

  “That’s not necessary,” he went from angry to trying to draw me off course. “I’m just trying to get in my car, so I can leave.”

  “Well, let me call you a locksmith at least.” I didn’t look up at him as I kept fucking with my phone like I could do anything useful with it.

  “I almost had it,” he assured me, “before you startled me.”

  “Really?” I stepped closer and got a view of the car. It was definitely Tabitha's. “Maybe I can just make it easier by gett
ing the girl that owns the car to come unlock it for you. I bet she has the keys.”

  Realization seemed to dawn in his eyes, and the anger was back like a flash fire. “She is my girlfriend,” he growled at me. “I am doing her a favor by getting into her car.”

  “I think she might argue with you about that.” Or she would if she wasn’t terrified of this man. “Plus,” I put my phone back into my pocket and decided I was going to be a dick about this, “the last I checked she was mine. Didn’t see any marks of ownership from anyone else, and if she ain’t with you, she ain’t yours.”

  “I thought your voice sounded familiar,” he growled at me. He pulled a knife from his pocket and flicked out the blade. That shit definitely wasn’t street legal. “You’re going to regret trying to take her from me.”