by Jenna Jacob
“Two cran-apple juices and a cola, please.”
“Coming right up.”
Before he turned to escort Sanna back to her Masters, Max sent me a dangerous smile and winked. “I’ll be back soon.”
A nervous hum droned inside me, but as another member stepped up to the bar, I focused on work and shoved the looming discomfort of our pending discussion down deep.
“Red! Red!” Lil’tigger, the fairly new submissive, screamed her safe word from across the room.
I jerked my head up in time to see Kerr land one more brutal blow to her ass.
“I said red, you asshole,” she shrieked.
Kerr grip her purple-dyed hair and brutally yank her head back. Cuffed to a cross and immobile, she fought against the bindings as Kerr whispered something in her ear. Lil’tigger furiously shook her head as tears streamed down her cheeks. Blood dripped from a cut on her butt cheek.
Master Ink and Sir Bent-Lee, the head DMs, converged on the scene as conversation in the club fell silent. The Doms working their subs stopped and shielded them with their bodies while quietly reassuring them.
From the archway, Mika stormed into the dungeon. His jaw was clenched, lips pressed tight, and fire blazed in his amber eyes.
Please let this be the last straw.
As Mika made his way toward Kerr, Bent-Lee pressed a cloth to Lil’tigger’s injured flesh before working to release the sobbing sub from the cross. Master Ink stood glaring at Kerr, who seemed to be losing his patience at having to explain his actions. Several Doms, who’d been sitting at their tables, converged at the periphery of the station. Tony, Joshua, James, Ian, Justice, Sam, Nick, Dylan, and Max stood like menacing citadels, ready and waiting for Kerr to do something stupid.
“Keep an eye on things,” I murmured to Joe before rounding the bar to join the others.
Leagh, Liz, Cindy, and Savannah along with her sister, Mellie—who looked pale and shaken—stood at the ready with a blanket and bottle of water to help settle Lil’tigger once she was free. Several years ago, in another city, Mellie had worn Kerr’s collar. The irony that the two would once again meet as members of Club Genesis was a sick twist of fate.
Wearing an angry glare that conveyed the depth of his fury, Mika quietly spoke to Kerr. Suddenly the prick reared back. His face contorted with rage.
“You can’t do that. I didn’t do anything wrong!” Kerr bellowed. Crimson stained his cheeks. With nostrils flaring, he heaved the paddle in his hand across the room. A group of subs quickly dove for cover as the wooden toy splintered across the floor.
Mika grabbed Kerr by the shirt and effortlessly lifted him off the ground as I reached the cluster of Doms, and moved in beside Max. He glanced at me and did a split-second double take, then frowned. Ignoring him, I watched Savannah grab her sister’s arm. Mellie lifted her chin as she looked at Kerr with loathing. Joshua, her new Master—a highly respected member of the club and well versed at the dynamics of the lifestyle—took one look at his girl and ate up the distance between them in three long strides.
Bent-Lee finished with the last cuff, and Leagh rushed to Lil’tigger’s side. Wrapping the trembling sub in the blanket, Leagh led the crying girl away from the confrontation while the rest of the submissives followed.
Like an angry mob, we Doms gathered in closer now that Lil’tigger was safely out of harm’s way.
“Kerr. Your membership is officially terminated,” Mika bellowed for everyone to hear.
A resounding cheer went up among the crowd and I started to laugh.
“I’ll notify every club owner in a five-state radius of your abusive behavior.” Mika released the man’s shirt. Kerr crumpled to the floor on his ass.
“You can’t do this,” he roared, launching to his feet once again. “You can’t interrupt a scene. I was handing down a punishment, you stupid prick!”
“I can do whatever the fuck I want.” Mika sneered. “Lil’tigger is not your sub. She’s unowned and is protected by me. Any behavior that warrants a punishment comes through me…by me, and you damn well know it!”
“Your punishments are worthless. All you ever do is talk to the subs; you never beat their asses the way they deserve.”
A collective gasp rippled through the club. I wanted to grab Kerr by the balls and show him exactly what he deserved…castration.
“You come anywhere near this club again, you won’t need an ambulance; you’ll need the fucking coroner.” Mika’s threat was arctic and low. He turned to the DMs. “Get him the fuck out of here!”
I wanted to jump up and down and scream out like a cheerleader. When Ink and Bent-Lee grabbed Kerr by the arms, he started to struggle. Kicking and cursing, he fought for freedom. Mika rolled his eyes and shook his head, unimpressed with the asshat’s tantrum.
Turning to the group of us watching with glee, Mika chuckled. “Anyone who wants to help the DMs, please. Be my guest.”
Like a piñata being busted open at a kid’s birthday party, the Doms rushed forward and gripped their hands onto Kerr. They lifted him off the ground. I was anxious to join in, as well, but aside from his junk, there wasn’t a place on his body for me to put my hands. I definitely wasn’t going near the toxic shit between his legs, so instead, I led the way toward the front of the club.
“I’ll get the door for you gentlemen,” I volunteered with a wide grin.
As I held the portal open, Kerr passed me with a snarl. I blew him a kiss and flipped him off. They tossed the man to the sidewalk with a thud. He let out a scream, but the Doms simply turned and walked back inside. I couldn’t resist high-fiving each and every one of them.
“Thanks for taking out the trash, boys,” I laughed, then slammed and locked the door.
When I turned around, Max was the only one left in the spacious entry area. Butterflies dipped and swooped in my stomach, and the giddiness within turned to something solid and hungry.
“I’m glad that shitiot is banned. I didn’t like the way he treated you, or any other woman for that matter.”
I nodded. “I am, too. Finally he crossed that line I’d been praying for. But now I’m worried Kerr will try to get back at Mika in some way. It’s happened before.”
“I heard about that from Dylan a few years ago. That crazy son of a bitch shooting him was bad shit.”
“Yeah. I know he’ll take precautions, both coming and going from the club.”
“He’ll be fine,” Max assured. “How are you doing?”
I could lie and tell him I was fine, or I could rush to his arms and lock my lips to his, or I could just tell him the truth.
“So far, so good. I can live with that.”
“But are you happy?”
“I’m as happy as I’ll ever be. I came to terms with that a long time ago.”
A thoughtful expression lined his face and he gave a single nod. “You know, yesterday at your place when I came out of the bathroom to clean you—”
“We’ve already discussed that. I overreacted. I’m sorry.”
The memory of his hot body against my back, his calloused hands gliding up and down my body exploded in my head. I could feel his labored breaths, rushing like a furnace over my neck, still smell the tart scent of sex that hung in the air. Need, want, and desire coiled in my belly. My nipples grew taut, aching for his touch again. While my pussy clutched the emptiness within, my clit throbbed for the lash of his talented tongue. The attention he lavished on me was spellbinding and more.
I knew better than to start dissecting his logic or motives for having sex with me. I’d have to put my own rationale under the microscope, and that chafed. Max had made me feel helpless and small…like a sub.
“Why did you show up tonight in all your Domme glory?”
“Excuse me?” I blinked.
“I thought you were struggling to decide which side of the fence you belonged?”
“So now that you see I’m still a Domme, all your bluster about us simply being man and woman was just bullshit?
Did you only seduce me to try and gauge how much submission was left inside me?”
“What? No,” he barked. “Christ, Sam. I’m attracted to you. Why are you so damn suspicious of me? You thinking I’ve got some hidden agenda to squash your Dominance with my own is what’s bullshit.”
He moved in closer until our noses nearly touched, until his enticing hot breath spilled over my lips. “I know why you demanded to wipe the lube away. You needed to reestablish a sense of control.”
I lifted my chin. “So what if I did?”
“Exactly. So what?” He shrugged. “Be honest with yourself, Sam, and with me. You don’t have to shut me out or set your sexy ass on your Domme throne. If you feel the need to slide into your badass spiked shoes…just tell me.”
I stared at him with my mouth hanging half open and my eyes wide.
Max started to softly chuckle. “I’m not intimidated by your Dominant side, Sam. A lot of men might be, but I’m not like a lot of men.”
Boy, that’s the truth.
“I don’t want you to be intimidated by mine, either,” Max stated.
Yeah, good luck. That was going to take a serious amount of work.
“Last night was something new for both of us, but I”—he sent me a wicked smile—“I liked it. I know you did, too.”
I felt my cheeks catch fire. “Yes, I did.”
His eyes smoldered and he pulled back a fraction of an inch. “I’m glad that’s settled. Tomorrow is Sunday. The club is closed. I’d like to take you to dinner.”
“You’re asking me out on a date?”
“Yeah, I am. So what?”
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been on a date. I suddenly felt as if I were eighteen again. “So okay. Dinner it is.”
“Great. I’ll pick you up at seven.” He brushed a soft kiss to my lips, flashed me a devilish smile, then turned and swaggered past the velvet curtain.
Excitement tingled from my toes to the top of my head. Good grief. I was acting like a silly schoolgirl. Rolling my eyes, I shook off the ridiculous sensation and headed back to the bar.
Mika and Bent-Lee were sitting beside Lil’tigger, who’d stopped crying. Sam, Cindy, and Liz—who worked in the medical profession—were nearby packing up the first-aid kit. With Kerr banished, the rest of the members had resumed play and conversation. There was an overwhelming sense of relief…a palpable lightness in the air.
Dragging my gaze toward Max’s table, I saw Honey sat kneeling at his feet, staring up at him in visible awe. The same irrational wave of jealousy plowed me once more, stopping me dead in my tracks. Unable to peel my eyes from the couple, I watched as Max cupped her chin and smiled. There was no tangible reason for the pang of envy that pierced through me, but it was there all the same.
Tamping down my ugly emotions, I turned on my heel and hurried behind the bar. Replacing the hurt and anger that was bubbling up inside me, I forced a cheerful smile. There was no excuse for the feelings pinging within. Max was a Dominant, like me. We had a job and a right to help submissives in the club achieve growth. There was no room for the petty woman’s jealousies rising inside me. If Honey had come to me, I’d be commanding her to a station and guiding her fulfillment, too.
The masochistic urge to glance Max’s way was like a dark force that no lightsaber could vanquish. With each glass I filled, the same question as to why I let his actions with a submissive bother me spooled through my brain. We fucked. We planned to do dinner. Neither meant we were in a relationship. Hell, we weren’t even going steady.
“Oh, wow. That’s intense,” Liz murmured to Cindy as they waited for their sodas.
“Way intense,” Cindy agreed.
Raising my head, I turned to see what scene had the two subs so enraptured. Across the room, Max stood next to one of the bondage tables. Honey lay splayed out, naked and writhing beneath the crackling violet wand. Metal clamps adorned her nipples, connected to a chain that trailed down her flat stomach and attached to a stainless steel closure cinched around her clit. Her legs were spread wide, and cotton rope held her ankles to the corners of the table. Even from the distance of the bar, I could see copious juices pouring from her pussy. Honey gripped the handle of a contact cable from the violet wand in her fist. The reverse technique passed electricity from the wand, directly through her, keeping Max free of the current. Each touch of his fingers, or various metallic toys, bypassed the man’s nerve endings and sent electricity to dance and sing over the sub’s flesh. Honey’s moans and the rock of her hips told me that Max had set the wand low. He wasn’t trying to fire her up, simply torture her nipples and clit with tingling heat.
Focused relentlessly on the sub, Max controlled each sensation igniting inside her. His fluid and graceful elegance exemplified both his knowledge as well as his experience as a Dom. His commanding style was simply breathtaking. Out of the dark depths within me, a longing to trade places with Honey seeped into my blood and settled like a heavy weight beneath my bones.
Unable to turn away from Max’s scene, I watched as he glided a Mylar flogger over the chains against her flesh. I could almost feel the pulses of electricity stimulate her nipples and clit. A chill raced up my spine as Honey wailed and begged for permission to come in a desperate keening cry. Yanking the probe from her hand, he gripped a thick pink dildo and shoved it deep inside Honey’s tunnel. Bending, Max whispered in her ear. As she screamed out her release, I knew that he’d granted her the command to come.
My pussy clutched, gripping nothing but emptiness. Throbbing in tandem, my nipples and clit pitifully pulsated in need. Swallowing tightly, I watched as Max released the clamp on her clit. He strummed the rubber cock in and out of her cunt while his mouth moved with words that only she could hear, as he slowly eased the sub back to earth.
“Good god,” Liz groaned. Grabbing a bar nap, she fanned her face. “I think I’m going to find my Masters, kneel at their feet, and beg them to take me home…pronto.”
Cindy moaned. “You and me both, girl. Dayum! That was hot.”
I couldn’t even force a smile, let alone drag words past my tongue before the pair grabbed their drinks and hurried away. Peering at Max once more, I saw he’d freed Honey from the ropes and now stood behind her. He wrapped a blanket around her naked body and simply held her, back flush against his chest the way he’d melded me to him the night before. Tears stung the backs of my eyes. My body trembled. A void I hadn’t felt in sixteen years began eating its way within. Turning my back to him, I squatted to the row of cabinets behind the bar while jealousy gouged my heart. Pretending to reach for a stack of plastic cups, I closed my eyes and dragged in several long, ragged breaths.
Yes, he was a Dominant, but did he have to engage the sub in such a blatantly sexual scene?
That was obviously what Honey needed…what they’d negotiated.
I squeezed my eyes shut tighter. I didn’t want the little voice inside my head making excuses for her, or Max or attempting to sooth the pain of insult away. I wanted to rush to my private room, crawl inside the shower, and scrub the sickly film of betrayal away. Sucking in a deep breath, I stood.
“I’ll be back in a minute.”
Joe absently nodded as he shoved cans of soda into the metal cooler. Casting my eyes to the archway, I hurried out of the dungeon. Inside the safety of my private room, I sat on the edge of the bed and tried to sort out my erratic emotions.
Yes, I was jealous. Honey had felt Max’s touch, his attention. She’d been granted the pleasures I greedily wanted to experience again. They were mine, dammit! Angry with myself for letting the little green-eyed monster consume me, I tried to rationalize why I felt so slighted and raw.
The man hadn’t promised me a damn thing besides a good time in bed and a date for dinner. He’d worked a sub. Big deal. Every Dom in the club did the same damn thing on a nightly basis…including me. Max taking care of Honey’s needs was no different than me doing the same for Eli. While I didn’t jack the boy off, I’d done so p
lenty of times in the past.
“You’re losing your damn mind,” I murmured in disgust.
The light tap on my door had me rolling my eyes. No doubt Mika had been watching me coming unglued on the security monitor in his office. I truly loved the man, but sometimes he acted like an overprotective father. Gripping the handle, I pulled the door toward me.
Before I’d even looked up at Mika, I stepped aside so he could enter. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“Good,” Max replied with a soft chuckle.
Yelping in surprise, I jumped and slapped my hand to my chest. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s what I came back to ask you.”
“No. I mean what are you doing in my room?”
“I just told you. I came to see if you were all right.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Max didn’t answer. He simply arched his brows and studied me with a cocky stare that screamed: You’re wasting your time. Blowing smoke up my ass won’t work.
“The mirrors in the club are quite revealing. I could give Honey aftercare and still see every teeny tiny emotion that rolled across your face. At least until you ducked down behind the bar and out of sight.”
My stomach began to swirl. He’d been watching me? Impossible. Max had been transfixed on the sub…hadn’t he? Obviously not.
“When you stood up, I saw the tears in your eyes. And then you took off toward your room. I had to know why me scening with Honey upset you.”
“I knew you were full of yourself, but honestly,” I scoffed, trying to dig myself out of an endlessly collapsing tunnel. “You think I’m upset about you and a sub?”
“I don’t think it, sweetheart. I know it.” Max took my hand off the doorknob. As the portal closed, giving us total privacy, he pressed his massive body against me until I felt the cool drywall at my back. “You don’t need to be jealous of anyone in or out of this club.”
“Seriously?” I hissed. “How the hell can you clear a doorway with a head as big as yours?”
“Which head are you talking about?” Max smirked.