Diamond winced, and seeing no other course of action against her sister’s sound argument, shrugged.
Frowning, Ruby picked up her small purse from where she had left it on the table. “Hmm. Well then, I guess I have no other choice but to go find out for myself. Aubergine is, where again?” She put her hand up in front of her before Di could answer. “Never mind I’ll find it. I saw which door he left through. I’ll start there. I know it’s close.”
She turned to leave and Diamond followed, half to make sure her sister was safe, and half to avoid her husband. She was too late. They met up with him at the top of the stairs. His dark eyes narrowed, as he crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance, blocking their path.
Diamond heard her sister’s audible gulp, and silently echoed the sentiment. Pax could be very formidable looking when he wanted to be. But Ruby had nothing to be afraid of. She stepped forward without fear, and placed her hand on her brother-in-law’s shoulder. “I’ll sign whatever you need me to, Pax. Thank you for an authentic experience. It may be the only one I’ll ever get to have, especially if tonight doesn’t work out the way I hope.” She waited for his nod, and continued. “I’m sorry. I need to find Jase. Have the forms sent up to my room, and I will sign them later. I promise,” she added, before squeezing past him, and all but running down the stairs.
With Ruby gone, Pax moved from his spot, quickly advancing on her.
Not scared at all, save for the fate of her bottom, Diamond played along, backing up until she was nearly against the wall. When he was close enough she could feel his breath, she gulped, placing her hands, spread out across his massive chest, and began to make her plea.
“She said she’d sign the form, just like I knew she would.” She turned on her widest most saccharine smile, flashing him with her teeth while fluttering her eyelashes rapidly. “No harm, No foul.”
Pax’s voice was low and firm. “The harm and foul is that you deliberately disobeyed a direct order from your Dom. That’s not going to end well for you, princess.”
Oh, and she knew it, how well she knew it. But knowing she was sunk didn’t mean she couldn’t plead her case anyway, a desperate attempt to lighten her sentence, or at the very least delay it, until they were safely ensconced in their suite tonight. “Jase whisked her away while I was talking to the Tanners. I never even got a chance to talk to her. And I knew she’d sign whatever we asked her to! No one knows she didn’t sign so it’s not like they can try to get away with the same!” The excuses poured out one by one. Pax’s eyes grew smaller and darker with each one, and worse still, people were staring.
“One: Regardless of who was where tonight, and with whom, you had all day. Several days actually. It’s opening night, I’m sure you knew what would happen if you left it till the last minute. Two: I know a lot of people will sign a lot of things. I still make them sign before discipline takes place. Three: I don’t care what anyone knows or doesn’t know. I care only that you disobeyed a direct order. One that was given many times,” he stopped short, his mouth turning up in a smirk, and she squirmed inwardly. “How’s that plug feeling, princess? I used the small one but it doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. Time for an adjustment.”
His large hand wrapped around her wrist, and she had no choice but to follow as he began to tug her along behind him. Making a scene and embarrassing him would only make things worse for her. When they were at the club, he held her to an even higher standard then when they were at home. At the club, both of them had a persona to play, and an example to make. She had heard it many times. Be an example, or I will make you one. Tonight, would be the latter.
As they made their way through the crowded club, not a single Dom or sub bothered to stop them. It was plain to see what was happening as she hurried along behind him, his grip still tight on her wrist, as he led the way to the same private office they had occupied earlier in the evening.
When the door shut behind them, Pax let go, stalking towards the supply cabinet in the far corner. Even though she knew better, Diamond followed behind him, making her case.
“Pax, please, can’t this wait until tonight? I’ll accept whatever punishment you want to give, just not here. Please, it’s so embarrassing!”
Pax ignored her pleas, continuing to rummage through the cabinet, as if they didn’t both know exactly what he was looking for.
“A little embarrassment is good for a submissive,” he growled, without turning from his task. “Besides, this could have ended very differently. Ruby and I could have been the ones being embarrassed and that would have made it even worse for you.” He turned to face her then, holding the largest plug she had ever set eyes upon in front of him like a trophy.
She gulped loudly, and began to whimper, backing away from him as she spoke. “Noo, please. It’s too big. I can’t take it. It will hurt. Please.”
Pax had his game face on, unfazed by her pleas and utterly in control of the situation. “Perhaps you should have thought about that earlier.”
She was still backing away, shaking her head as he advanced.
“It’s smaller than my cock. Trust me. I know your limits.” His declaration gave her pause, and she eyed the object shrewdly. Width wise it was larger than what she was used to, enough to be uncomfortable, but that was kind of the point. Length wise it was long, but certainly not longer than his cock which she had taken many times. She had no choice but to trust him, especially once he said it. He was her husband, her Dom, and her king. He did know her limits. He liked to take her right to the brink of them, but never push past. And not trusting him… well… that had been the cause of a sore bottom more than once.
He was standing silently now, watching her inner struggle. She could see in his eyes the moment he knew she would concede—not that she had a choice—but he always waited for that moment of acceptance to dawn.
When it did, he grabbed hold of her shoulders and spun her around, pointing wordlessly to the same desk she had laid across only hours before.
Her stomach sank into her toes as she obeyed without further hesitation.
Chapter 10
Ruby entered Aubergine through the main lobby, not quite sure where to look. Machines dinged and buzzed around her. It was a wholly different environment from the one she had just left, and she paused to regroup herself, ducking into a nearby ladies’ room.
“Wow,” she spoke aloud, gazing in the mirror at her disheveled reflection. Her long red curls had gone flat, stuck to her head with sweat in a few places. Her mascara had smudged, a dark smear marked the bridge of her nose, and one more marred her cheek.
And red. Of course she was flushed, when was she not these days? She didn’t think her peaches and cream skin had stayed peachy for more than five minutes since stepping foot into Rojo. She seemed to be in a permanently aroused and embarrassed lobsterfied state.
All she had in her tiny purse was lip gloss, mascara and her phone, and small wallet. Not a lot to work with. Still, she scrubbed at her face, relishing the feel of the cold water on her warm skin as she wiped away the rogue mascara. A fresh coat of mascara, and one of lip gloss. There was nothing that could be done about her hair, and she didn’t bother to try, exiting the bathroom quickly under stares from a large group of matronly women, in full tourist garb.
Holding her head high, she stalked past them, unable to stop herself from tugging at the hem of her latex dress as she walked. Her club gear seemed more than a little out of place here in the casino. But, just as well as that fact answered her original question about where to look first. Maybe she would be not quite as much the sore thumb amongst the club goers at Aubergine. Besides that, she could use a drink.
To her surprise, her bottom burned and chafed against the latex as she made her way across the casino and towards the club. The realization of the events that had just taken place made her smile. She had been spanked—well and truly spanked—two nights in a row by hands down one of the most gorgeous guys she had ever laid her eyes on.
And onstage, no less. In a real honest to goodness BDSM club. And truth be told, save for the Dom’s hasty exit, the experience had exceeded her wildest expectations.
The club at Aubergine was your typical Vegas nightclub. At least she assumed it was, she didn’t actually know. The clientele was a little more modest and the décor was purely vanilla. Gone were the leashes and chains, and not a St. Andrew’s cross in sight, she thought with a giggle. Scantily clad showgirls glided through the room, carrying trays of drinks, and bright and colorful lights beamed across the now empty stage. Ruby made a beeline for the bar, stopping short at the sight of the man standing behind it.
Anger bubbled in her chest as she watched him pour drinks, flirting with the female customers at the bar, looking as if he had not a care in the world, like he hadn’t just spanked her senseless and left her high and dry with no explanation. Her eyes darkened as thoughts of revenge flitted through her brain before she could stop them. Her temper often got the best of her; she was a redhead after all.
Still, he was a Dominant and to approach him with guns blazing would be to play with fire. A pyro she was not, but she also wasn’t one to shy away from a risk. She moved like a cat to the center of the bar, and leaned across it, resting her forearms on the cool wood.
“What happened to you, Dombie? I thought we had plans?”
His lips curled up slightly at the use of her mild insult, but other than that, his face remained passive. He glanced up at her, then quickly back down at the bar, and shrugged. “Plans change.”
Rage boiled just below the surface, as she searched for a comeback. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him, with her mouth slightly open. Think, Ruby! Don’t just stand here looking like an idiot! Pick some words and say them!
There was no rhyme or reason to the string of words that finally fell from her lips. She didn’t even know what she planned to say until after she said it. But, she knew she had to say something, so she opened her mouth, and let every inch of her thoughts and emotions tumble out, interspersed heavily with her characteristic dose of sarcasm. “Oh, right, plans change suddenly all the time. I understand, they must have had such a busy night here that they had to call you and beg you to come work behind the bar with the other three bartenders already on shift tonight. Got it. That must have been what happened.” Her words faltered as she slammed her open palm on the bar for emphasis. “Except, oh yeah! I was just with you and your phone never rang. So, what is it then? You get a better offer for tonight? You have some slut on a stick about to show up? Wonder what she will think when she sees me? Is she a sub, or is she just some desperate little vanilla?”
Jase’s eyebrow twitched and the corner of his mouth turned up in a half grin as he listened to her rant, waiting for her to finish before he spoke. “There’s no hot date waiting in the wings, Ruby. There was no emergency call, and surely, a better offer doesn’t exist.”
Her brain stalled, her perfectly planned comeback lost in time while she processed the hidden compliment behind his words. Only one thought remained. “Then, why did you leave?”
He didn’t answer, though. He simply shrugged, and soon her rage was once again at the forefront of her being. A shot of whiskey appeared in front of her and she curled her hand around it, squeezing hard, much as she wanted to do to his head at that moment. When she spoke again, her words were like ice.
“Right. You have no answer. Well then,” she spat, taking the offered whiskey and finishing it in one gulp, wiping her lips with the back of her hand before continuing. “I shall go back to Rojo and sign whatever papers Pax wants me to, right after I complain to him that zero aftercare was received—not even so much as a, ‘Happy Birthday’ after my birthday spanking. I’m sure he will be interested to know that, seeing how forgetting aftercare is not a quality of a good Dom, and he only wants good Doms in his club especially if they work there and have round the clock private access.”
Threat delivered, she slammed the glass down in front of her and turned to go, pausing when he spoke.
“Pax is my best friend. He’s more than aware of my faults. All of them. I assure you he will not suddenly hate or fire me from one small threat about a birthday spanking of all things. He knows me better than I know myself, Red. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“You’re forgetting one important detail,” she bit, tossing the words over her shoulder without looking. “That one small complaint is coming from his sister-in-law, not some random submissive.”
Her breath hitched in her throat as she heard the movement behind her. She sensed, rather than saw him coming out from behind the bar and striding to her with purpose. Ruby forced herself to keep walking, but she wasn’t fast enough. He cut her off at the path, blocking her with his body as he stunted her progress towards the door.
Her breathing labored as she stared him down in silent challenge. “Oh, did my threat bother you more than you let on?”
His brow quirked, literally the only part of him that moved at all. “Not hardly.”
“Great, then kindly get out of my way so I can go back to Rojo. In case you’ve forgotten, it’s my birthday, I’m spending it at a BDSM club, and I intend to play. I’ll be sure I find a real Dom this time.”
Angling her body sideways, she attempted to squeeze between his hard boy and the nearby table but he wasn’t having it. His large hand reached out, and caught her bicep, squeezing slightly.
“Sounds like a plan,” he growled, leaning close to whisper in her ear. “Might I suggest, dropping the ‘tude before you get there? Unless, of course, a real punishment from some unknown Dom is what you’re angling for?”
Without breaking from his grasp, she leaned towards him until they were standing nearly chest to chest. “If you have a problem with my ‘tude, you should have done something about it while you had the chance.” Her snarl was almost feral as she finally jerked her arm from his hold. He let her, but his quiet voice commanded her attention.
“You deserve things I can’t give you.”
“Oh yeah?” she asked, stopped in her tracks. “And what might that be?”
“Everything.” The simple word carried an unspoken weight. She could actually see the pain in his eyes, and it scared her. But she knew what she wanted. She’d settle if she had to, but she’d give it her all first.
Holding her chin high, she met his gaze. “I deserve to decide for myself what I want or need at any given time, and what I want and need at this time is to be dominated hard, and spanked and fucked because it’s my birthday and I’m in Vegas.” She straightened her spine and pulled herself to her full height, before tossing her red mane over one shoulder and delivering her parting shot. “Someone told me to beware of wannabe Doms. Funny, that same person turned out to be one. Guess I’ll take my chances in the club.”
He let her go. He had to fight against every fiber of his being as it screamed out to chase her down, to prove her wrong, to fight for her, dammit, but he let her go.
Because if he were being honest with himself, there might be more than a little truth to her parting shot. A real Dom wouldn’t have let her walk out the door. A real Dom wouldn’t have fled the club immediately after spanking her onstage. Real Doms were long term, they lived, breathed and cared for their subs. He had never been a real Dom—not in that sense. But that didn’t make him a wannabe, did it? It just made him a play Dom, a professional. He was still one of the good ones. At least that’s what he had always thought.
He no longer knew. Everything he had known or thought about himself as a Dom or heck, even a person, had been lost the minute Ruby walked into the playroom with him and looked at him with those big trusting eyes. Or maybe it had been before that. He had been losing himself for a while. And he didn’t know what to do about it. The only solution that made any sense was the one thing he couldn’t do.
Long term relationships were not in the cards for him. Never had been. The urge was there lately. It never had been before, but he had to squash it. He wasn’t capable
of long term; it was in his blood, his genes, and his heart.
That fact had never caused him this much pain before. Every bone and organ in his body ached as he watched her walk away. When the door finally closed behind her, the noise that left him was guttural and wrenching.
Reaching over the bar, he grabbed a high-end bottle of whiskey, and took a long swig, relishing the pain of the burn as it glided down his throat and settled in a fiery pit in his belly. The bartenders on duty just stared at him, giving him a wide berth as he turned and headed across the bar towards his office.
Ruby made the short walk between the two clubs with tears streaking down her face as she shook with anger. Her plan hadn’t worked.
Either he hadn’t taken her threats seriously, or worse, he had and he didn’t care. And why would he? It wasn’t like they had any connection other than a fabulous night of play. But she had been prepared to leave it at that. He was the one who had made promises of more.
Her heels caught on a crack in the asphalt and almost sent her sprawling. She caught herself seconds before she went down, and kicked off the shoes with a scowl, holding them in her hands as the hot asphalt burnt her feet. She didn’t care. The pain was nothing compared to what she was already feeling.
The ringing of the phone interrupted her inner rant and she grabbed it from her purse, immediately hitting ignore when she saw that it was Trevor. The photo that popped up was one of the first they had ever taken together, more than ten years ago. She scowled at the tender feelings that tore at her heartstrings, and shoved the phone back in her purse. Fuck Trevor. Fuck the history. Fuck the memories. They had long outgrown each other. It had just been easier to ignore the fact than it had been to come to terms with it.
The phone rang again, almost immediately, and she ignored it this time, each shrill ring just further fuel for her righteous anger.
Claimed (Vegas Nights Book 2) Page 11