Luc stood up and his large hands cupped her shoulders as he crowded her. She stepped back and came up against Logan. “You may no longer be our full-time sub, pet, but I’m still a Dom and you’re still a sub and you will treat me, Logan, and every other Dom you encounter with respect. Do you understand?”
Cassie clenched her teeth to keep herself from telling him where he could put his request. After a few seconds she got herself under control and nodded.
“No,” Luc said his tone hard. “Keep your chin up, eyes lowered and use words. Now, answer me—do you understand?”
“Yes, Luc.”
“Not Luc—Sir.”
Reminding herself that taking a swing at him was a bad idea, she decided to beat them at their own game. After all another one of her dad’s favorite sayings was “fake it till you make it.” “Yes, Sir, I understand.”
“Good, now go get ready,” Luc said. “Logan and I expect you in the entrance hall at six sharp.”
Cassie turned to leave, but Logan reached out and snagged her wrist as she walked by him. Cassie froze.
“There’s a list of the club rules in the top right-hand drawer of my desk. Get a copy and memorize them,” Logan said. “Luc and I have been patient with you. From now on you’re just another sub in our territory and all of the rules apply to you.”
“Logan and I have decided to deliver the punishment you’ve earned over the last few days at the club tonight,” Luc said. “Do you understand?”
“But that’s not fair,” Cassie said. “You and Logan broke our contract when you went to Club Mystique and played with another sub.”
“That’s the second time she’s said that—what’s she talking about, Luc?”
“I’ll tell you later.” Luc turned to Cassie. “Get going now, sugar.”
Chapter Seven
Cassie entered the main room of Club Mystique, she looked around for Luc and Logan but didn’t see them. Several Doms looked her way and she reached up and touched the collar around her neck. A medallion with Luc and Logan’s initials hung from it and she traced them with her finger. She looked around again and saw a large man wearing a monitor’s armband walking toward her. When he caught her looking at him, he frowned and she lowered her eyes.
“Sub, I’m David. You will call me ‘Sir.’ Logan and Luc requested that I escort you until they can join you. Follow me,” he said, then turned and walked away.
Cassie stayed where she was, waiting for Sir David to realize she wasn’t following him. When he noticed, he turned around, frowned, and walked back to her.
“May I have permission to speak, Sir?”
“Yes,” Sir David said.
“Where are my Sirs?” Cassie asked.
“They were called away. They told me to take care of you and if anything happened to you they would do unspeakable things to me.”
Cassie smiled, then lowered her eyes. “Oh,” she said. “Okay. Thanks, Sir.”
Sir David led the way across the room. As she walked behind him, she touched the medallion again while she wondered about the bruise she had seen on Luc’s face when he and Logan had put it on her earlier. Lost in her thoughts, she was surprised when instead of escorting her to the subs’ area, Sir David stopped in the middle of the room then pointed to the floor. She looked down and saw a small, round area rug. Turquoise, with a gold-and-black border. “Sir, permission to speak.”
Sir David sighed. “You talk a lot for a sub,” he said, then added, “Permission granted, sub.”
“What am I looking for on the floor, Sir?”
“You’re not looking for anything. This is where I’m putting you. On your knees.”
“I thought I would be taken to the subs’ area, Sir.”
Sir David pointed at the floor again. “Luc and Logan told me to put you here.”
“It’s not safe.” Her anxiety increased as she felt multiple pairs of eyes watching her. “Please take me to the subs’ area, Sir.”
“No. This is where you go,” Sir David said.
“Sir, with all due respect, I have the right to protect myself and I’m exercising that right. Please take me to the subs’ area.”
“The Ramseys are in a meeting at this time but I’ll pass your request on to them, sub. For the time being, remain here.”
“Red, Sir,” Cassie said then waited to see what he would do. A moment later another man joined them.
“What’s the problem here?” he asked, his bass voice so deep it felt as if it resonated through her body, vibrating her bones.
“Luc and Logan told me to place this sub here, Lon. She refuses to stay here and has requested to be taken to the subs’ area. I told her I would consult with them when they were available but she used her safeword.”
“I see,” Lon said. “Sub, why do you refuse?”
“It’s not safe, Sir,” Cassie said. “It’s too open and I have no way to shield myself from harm.”
“I see. Do you expect to be attacked?” Lon asked.
“I believe in being prepared for the unexpected, Sir,” Cassie said.
“Did Luc and Logan say why they wanted her placed here?” Lon asked Sir David.
“No.”
Lon nodded. “Then, escort her to the subs’ area and they can deal with her when they’re available.”
“Thanks, Lon.” Sir David motioned for Cassie to follow him.
Once they reached the subs’ area, Cassie chose a large chair that faced into the room with Luc and Logan’s personal booth behind her. To her left there were several stages along the wall where scenes were taking place and to her right was a long mahogany bar with several bartenders mixing drinks. The dance floor was across the room from her and an ornately carved staircase that led to the second floor was next to it. Cassie curled up in the chair. This is more like it. She smiled then planted her chin in her cupped hand and settled in for a long night.
She sneaked a few looks around the room but made sure not to look into anyone’s eyes. The club was packed tonight with so many scenes going on that she was having trouble settling on just one of them. From the scene area closest to her, she watched as a Dom swatted the already blazing red bottom of his sub and felt her own arousal grow. A few feet away from her she heard the murmur of two masculine voices. She stiffened for a moment as one of them caught her attention then relaxed when she realized it was only similar to one of the voices she remembered. A little farther away, she saw cuffs being locked into place on a male sub. She glanced at his cock and saw it encased in a metal and leather contraption and couldn’t help the lift of her brows. Her imagination filled in what was going to happen next as she saw the Domme pick up a riding crop and step to the side and slightly behind the sub.
Cassie shifted just a tiny bit before settling back into a more relaxed position. She didn’t know how much time had gone by but it felt like it was way past her bedtime. For a moment she wondered if Sir Daniel had spoken to Luc and Logan yet but then her attention was pulled to a scene taking place to her left. She heard a soft humming sound then sharp moans of pleasure as the hum changed to a pulsing sound. The moans turned to begging as sharp slaps began raining down on the sub’s bare skin.
She tipped her head a little bit, closed her eyes, and listened to the sounds of the other scenes to her left. There was the sound of hands swatting bare skin, then the sharp sound of a paddle as it contacted with a soft bottom followed by a moaned gasp. Cassie drew in a deep breath, and separated the different scents into cologne, perfume, sweat, sex, and the scent of her own arousal.
Someone bumped into her chair and she gasped then opened her eyes and froze. A Dom walked by her and her heart jerked then raced when the long slender length of a single tail whip uncoiled from his belt. It slid over her shoulder, then down her breasts and legs to the floor. It trailed behind the man’s boots as he walked away from her. She watched it until it disappeared, then shuddered and locked her eyes on the spot where she’d last seen it. From one breath to the next, her sight narrowe
d to that one tiny spot on the floor and one image after another began flashing through her mind.
* * * *
Luc rushed into the security room, bent down, and adjusted the monitor. When he saw that Cassie wasn’t where he expected her to be he frowned. “Where’s Cassie?”
“She’s in the subs’ area. She said being out in the middle of the room wasn’t safe and when David refused to move her, she used her safeword.”
“She’s smart and stubborn.” Luc zoomed the camera in on Cassie. The dress she wore had ridden up and he could see the curve of her hip and her long slender legs. He scrolled the camera over her body, appreciating the silky golden skin that glowed through the lace of the dress he’d picked out for her to wear tonight. He paused on her nipples then moved the camera up to her face. “How do women curl up like that?” he asked, not really expecting an answer as he focused the camera on her face. He’d watched her every time she’d come to Club Mystique and he knew that the sounds and scents of the club had the tendency to spike her arousal. “Has anyone approached her?”
“A few have gone close but when they saw our collar on her they backed off,” Logan said.
“Good, I don’t want anyone else touching her.” Luc zoomed in on Cassie’s face. Her chin was up, and her eyes appeared to be half-closed.
“I don’t like this. We shouldn’t have left her alone.” Logan leaned closer to Luc and adjusted the zoom. “We should have asked Cade and Jackson to watch for our drug dealer while we took care of Cassie.”
“We need to catch the person who’s leaving drugs in our private rooms,” Luc said. “I’ve got one of my gut feelings that they’re somehow connected to this mess with Cassie. Besides we’ve had eyes on her all evening.” He adjusted the camera again. Something about her stillness bothered him. At first he thought she might be asleep, but then he saw the vein in her neck pounding the way it had when she’d had the panic attack by the pool. “Something’s wrong.” He rushed from the room with Logan one step behind him.
Luc pushed his way through the crowded room until he reached Cassie and crouched down in front of her. “Sugar?” He surrounded her face with his hands, and stroked his fingers down her cheeks. “Come on now, sugar. Wake up, Cassandra.”
“How’s she doing?” Logan squatted next to him and rubbed his hands over her bare legs. “Dammit, she’s freezing cold.”
“Logan, get a blanket. We need to get her to the hospital in Rendezvous.”
Before he could pick Cassie up, Thor leaned over him, placed his thumb beneath Cassie’s chin, and tipped her face up to the light. She didn’t respond to his presence in any way. “What the hell happened?”
Luc brushed Thor’s hand away then slid his hands beneath Cassie while Logan wrapped a blanket around her. “We don’t know.” He brushed by Thor, Cade, and Jackson.
Cade walked beside him for a few steps. “I’ll call Doc and let him know what’s happened. We’ll be right behind you.”
Luc nodded, then he and Logan headed for the private door they used. Once in the truck with Logan driving toward Rendezvous, Luc pulled Cassie up until her head was resting on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead and rubbed his cheek against hers.
“How’s she doing?” Logan asked.
“Still out of it.” Luc stroked his hand down Cassie’s arm. “I should have had you keep her with you in the security room.”
“She was only alone for about half an hour, and most of that time I was watching her on the security cameras.
“Then what the fuck happened?”
“I don’t know but Doc will figure it out.” Logan took the turn to the hospital emergency room entrance. Once he reached the brightly lit, covered entrance, he threw the truck into park and then jumped out and hurried around the front of the truck. Together he and Luc hurried toward the entry doors
Luc scanned the emergency room and saw Doc waving at him from one of the curtained-off areas and hurried toward him.
“Put her here.” Doc patted the sheet-covered exam table.
Luc laid her down, made sure the blanket still covered her, then stepped back beside Logan and let Doc begin his examination.
“How long has she been like this?” Doc asked.
“Maybe fifteen minutes,” Logan said. “No longer than twenty.”
“Do you know what triggered it?” Doc flashed a small penlight over Cassie’s eyes.
“No,” Luc said. “Not yet.”
Doc glanced at him, then turned back to Cassie. “After Cassie’s episode a week ago, I consulted with a friend of mine in Austin who specializes in amnesia. She’s read Cassie’s medical records from the hospital eight years ago and she’s also spoken to her neurosurgeon. Based on that information, she believes Cassie’s amnesia isn’t a result of the concussion but repressed memories from being abducted and raped.”
“But, why did this happen now?” Luc asked. “She was fine at dinner tonight. Well, fine other than being pissed off at me and Logan.”
Doc acknowledged Luc with a nod of his head, then ran an ink pen down the sole of Cassie’s foot and smiled when she jerked her foot away. He pushed the call button for a nurse then asked, “Do you think one of the scenes upset her?”
“No,” Logan said. “She was watching people and scenes but she seemed to be relaxed and enjoying herself.”
There was the sound of a disturbance beyond the curtain then it was jerked back, and the metal rings screeched as it slid over the rod.
“Sir,” the duty nurse said. “I’ve told you that you can’t go back there.”
“Yes, I can,” Thor said. “That’s my daughter in there.” Thor stepped into the small exam area, and ignored the red-faced nurse when she tugged on his arm. He looked down at her then gently placed his hands on her shoulders and moved her back. “Woman, go away. Now,” he said, and the nurse gasped, blushed, and then fled.
Doc chuckled. “Damn, Thor, I’ve been trying to get Betty to follow my orders for years and I’ve failed at every turn. You’ll have to teach me how you do that.”
Thor wrapped his hands around Cassie’s blanket-covered feet and squeezed them. “Cassandra, wake up. Now,” he said, then grunted when he didn’t get a response. “She never was good at obeying.”
A moment later, a young nurse came into the room and Doc said, “Jeannie, I need you to get the vitals, then I need an EKG and some blood drawn. I also want a CT scan, and let the ICU know I’m admitting her.”
“Okay, Doc,” Jeannie said. “I’ll get her changed into a gown a—”
“No,” Luc and Logan said, stepping forward. “We’ll change her.”
Jeannie shook her head. “That’s against hospital policy.”
“I don’t think we’ll worry about that right now.” Doc placed his hand at Jeannie’s lower back and urged her toward the curtain. “Let’s step out here and Thor can fill out the paperwork for Cassie.”
As soon as the curtain closed behind them, Luc pulled the blanket away from Cassie then stopped.
Luc ran his finger over the collar he and Logan had placed around Cassie’s neck earlier, then removed it and shoved it into his pocket. “We need a gown.”
“I’ll get one,” Logan said.
When Logan returned, they removed the sheer gown Luc had chosen for Cassie earlier, then dressed her in the hospital gown. Luc held her on her side while Logan snapped the back snap at the neck then tied the straps together.
Luc almost smiled when Logan pulled a pair of socks from his pocket and held them up. “Her feet always get cold.” He tossed one of the socks to Luc and they put them on her. Logan held Cassie’s foot up then closed his hand around it. “Her feet are so tiny.”
“She may be tiny but she’s fierce. I could tell she wanted to tell me to fuck off earlier today. I think I heard her grind her teeth.”
Logan picked up Cassie’s hand, compared it to his, and then held onto it. He leaned over the bed and said, “Come on, sugar, wake up.” When she didn’t stir, he stood up. “
We need to find out what happened.”
The curtain slid back and Doc and Jeannie entered. Thor stood behind them with Cade and Jackson at his side.
“Come out here and let Doc and the nurse take care of Cassie,” Cade said.
Luc and Logan stepped out of the exam room and followed Cade to the waiting room. Once there, Cade pulled out his phone and brought up a video.
“This is what we think triggered Cassie’s episode,” Cade said. “It’s from the security cameras at the club.”
Luc and Logan moved closer, their eyes on the screen. In the center of the picture they saw Cassie curled up in a chair, her chin resting on her palm. Then suddenly a slender man dressed in a black shirt, black jeans, and heavy boots with short brown hair and a trimmed beard and mustache walked by her. As he stepped past her, the single tail whip on his belt uncurled and fell across her shoulder. On the screen, Cassie jerked to the side, her eyes wide and startled as the whip fell over her breasts and down her legs. Her focus remained on the whip as it was dragged out of sight by the unknown man.
“Damn,” Luc said. “Look at her. She’s terrified.”
“I don’t recognize him,” Logan said, reversing the recording then pointing to the man on the screen. “Do you?” he asked, looking at Cade, Jackson and Thor.
“None of us could identify him,” Cade said. “We looked for him in the club and couldn’t find him. We asked around and nobody seemed to know him—not even Carly and she knows everyone. He appears on several other cameras but he always turns his head away or down.”
“Then he’s familiar with our security and where our cameras are located,” Logan said.
“Not only that, watch what he does right before he steps by Cassie,” Thor said.
“He deliberately bumped into her and loosened the whip so it would trail over her shoulder,” Logan said. Jackson stepped closer and tipped the screen toward him. “Play it again, Logan.” After watching it several more times, Jackson shook his head. “Something’s not right with that guy.”
Luc said, “I think he’s in disguise. If Carly doesn’t remember seeing him, then he entered the club another way or he didn’t look like this when she saw him in reception.”
Their Temporary Sub [The Doms of Club Mystique 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 17