by Elle Luckett
“Can I ask, is she the one keeping this secret between you?” My eyes found his before dropping, like it was the most natural thing in the world. I should have been more embarrassed or shy, even uncomfortable, seeing as this was the first real conversation I’d had with the guy, but he had an air about him that put that part of me at ease.
“Are we that obvious?”
“No. I just know my sister. Does that mean she’s asked to keep it under wraps?”
“You know what this club is, Zara, and by association, I’m sure you’ve figured out what I am.”
“Dominant.”
Thomas nodded with his smile still curving his lips.
“And Lane doesn’t submit,” I continued. My sister had always been a control freak. She’d brought me up after Kyle had left, and she’d protected me from the realities of our life to the point I’d been naive and oblivious to it.
Thomas shook his head.
“Letting go would do her good,” I finally said, meeting his blue eyes in the dim light of the room.
“Maybe she should be the one having this conversation with you, not me,” Thomas answered gallantly. “I can’t expect her to do something that makes her uncomfortable, and I shouldn’t be discussing this with her sister.”
The fact that he denied himself and what he needed ran through my mind. He was respecting Lane’s privacy, so I had to do the same. Even if I did think getting tied up and fucked stupid would do her a world of good. Still, I wasn’t going to put myself in the middle of all that.
“I can make your life even easier and not mention that I know.”
“An omission is still a lie.”
“Big on that around here, aren’t you? Not lying, I mean.”
Thomas smiled brightly and reached for the door behind him. “It’s all part and parcel of what we do around here. Trust and truth.” He dipped his chin respectfully. “I really am sorry, Zara. This wasn’t the conversation I had planned to have as our first, but it was very nice to talk to you.”
He slipped out of the door and left me alone in the small room with a bemused smile on my face. He wasn’t what I would have picked as Lane’s choice from the pool of men I’d seen here today. Her taste in high school had been quite particular, and more than a few of the men filtering into the club and hotel this evening fit that bill, but Thomas was a surprise. One I needed to ask her about… after the embarrassment had worn off.
I waited for a couple of minutes before I slipped out of the closet. There was a part of my brain that screamed that the last thing I needed was to be associated with my sister’s secret boyfriend on my first day working at Club Stigmata. As luck would have it, there was no one around to see me as I headed toward the accommodation rooms upstairs to drop off some extra toiletries for a guest. Jon had taken over at the desk, and I was only running a couple of things around before I clocked out for the night.
“Hey, Lane?” a woman’s voice called out from behind me as I was heading back downstairs. I wasn’t in the habit of answering to my sister’s name, but I stopped and turned anyway. The woman standing at the other end of the hall was beautiful. She had pale porcelain skin, and was dressed head to toe in leather, her long dark hair falling over her shoulders in a tumble of curls that did nothing to subdue her sharp cheekbones. “Not Lane.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that today.” I smiled. “Would you like me to find Lane, or can I help you with something?”
The woman studied me with severe eyes that made my insides slowly shrink back. Tipping her head to the side had me dropping my eyes to my feet, while a small chuckle of victory fell from her lips.
“You are a curious creature,” she said with a purr. “Very in control of yourself, but submissive. You remind me of me when I was your age.”
“Mistress Kayla, are you teasing the club’s newest employee?” I heard Mark ask in that hoarse growl I’d found so attractive the first time I’d met him.
“I thought she was Lane.”
“This is Zara, her younger sister.”
“Even more interesting,” Mistress Kayla purred, pushing the door to one of the rooms open. I was still looking down, so the only thing I saw was a young man on a leash crawl out on all fours, his body covered only by a leather harness and something that looked like a cage over his hardened dick.
I could see why it was so hard to find employees when this was the norm around here. I still had a straight face, though, and I was more fascinated than anything else. I guess I was getting thrown in at the deep end on my first day.
Strolling toward me, Kayla stopped at my side. The young man in the leash leaned his shoulder against her thigh, not daring to glance up at me. Hell, I was too afraid to look up, and I didn’t count myself as part of this whole shenanigan, but the woman had power rolling off her in waves.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Zara.”
“You, too, Mistress Kayla,” I said quietly.
She hummed and started walking again, taking the young man on the leash with her. I’d almost forgotten Mark was there until he chuckled at my release of breath once Mistress Kayla was gone. Admittedly, I’d been dramatic about it, but I cringed anyway. It was all well and good, giving him a hard time when I had no idea who and what he was, but now I was an employee, I had to be respectful. It was one of the few things Lane had drilled into me while she’d been going through the employment paperwork.
“Intense, isn’t she?” he asked gently. “Kayla gave me a valuable lesson once, and I’ve been in awe of her ever since. It was a lesson I’ve never had to be reminded of.”
I glanced up at him, but Mark’s eyes were on the corner that Kayla had disappeared around, respect clearly worn on his features.
“What lesson was that?”
Mark glanced at me, his eyes lingering on mine until I deferred to his gorgeous jaw. Then he took his time taking in all of me.
“Pay attention, read my subs body, take my time and always.” He paused for a second, and I drew in a breath. This seemed to please him as he stepped closer. “Always find the spots that will make them beg.”
Hot damn. I had to fight to keep my eyes open and not fall into my overactive imagination. The words Mark said tumbled into pretty little images where I was laid out under those big hands of his. I was beginning to grow concerned that if he stepped any closer, he would have me entirely under his spell, and my hands would work to their own means and give me an ending I would be left thinking about for a while.
Even in the short detour my mind had taken, Mark had stepped closer. I could smell him everywhere, feel the gentle brush of his breaths against my shoulder, and sense the power and want rising in him.
“You should probably go.” There was a smile in his voice as he spoke. Was he aware of what he was doing to me? “Dressed like that, there’s a chance you could be eaten alive in here, all while you’re begging for more.”
I nodded and took the escape he’d offered, walking as fast as I could in my borrowed heels as my cheeks flushed with heat.
I would have to remind myself not to roam these halls once the club was open. Remind myself how dangerous these confident and sexy people were. Remind myself that submission wasn’t something I’d ever be interested in.
Or was it?
I wasn’t so sure anymore.
Chapter Four
“You can't tell a soul.”
Lane's eyes were so focused on me as the elevator traveled to our floor, it was hard not to squirm under the intensity of them. She'd caught me in another storage room while I was docking my assigned radio and tablet. She'd dragged me all the way to the apartment building before she would let me say anything.
“You need to calm down,” I told her, leaning my ass on the thin rail that lined the inside wall. I caught my reflection in the mirrors and finally saw what everyone else had seen. Though, after meeting Mistress Kayla and Mark, I'd pulled my hair down, which was something Lane would never have done, especially as the ends were curling.
“You don't understand.”
“That you're fucking your boss?” I huffed with a small grin. “What else is there to get?”
Lane opened her mouth, but the doors to the elevator slid open on our floor, and she stormed out, heading down the mute corridor toward her apartment, leaving me to follow.
“Lane.”
“Not out here.”
“There's no one out here.”
“Just—” She cut herself off and opened the door, her arm sweeping ahead for me to go first. I obliged, dropping my bag on the kitchen island as I kicked off my borrowed heels and turned to face her. “I don't want people to know.”
“Then, no one will know. It's your business, not mine.”
“I know.” Lane pulled the clips from her hair, dropped them on the counter, and rubbed her face. “I can't believe he…”
“Dry humped my ass?”
“Zara!”
I chuckled softly, unable to help myself.
“It's no big deal, Lane. He thought I was you, which looking at us,” I gestured between us, “wasn't hard to do. We look like twins.” I paused and smiled. “But, for the record, damn.”
“Stop it.” Lane tried to keep a straight face, but the corner of her lips upturned in a dead giveaway.
“You are one lucky lady.”
“Zara Elena Beltran, would you stop—”
“Talking about your boyfriend's junk?”
“Not my boyfriend.”
“Bullshit.”
Lane let out a long breath and headed deeper into the kitchen. She pulled out two wine glasses and a bottle of white from her refrigerator. She wasn't mad, but she did look upset.
“We don't have to talk about it.”
“I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to,” she admitted, staring at the corkscrew she was winding. “We've been sleeping together for almost a year now. That was after almost six years of flirting and denying one another.”
I dropped my ass to a stool and let her continue.
Taking her time, Lane unscrewed the cork from the corkscrew and put it on the counter, before thinking better of it and throwing it away. I was with her. Tonight was going to be a bottle or more kind of evening. She poured two glasses and slid one over to me with worried eyes.
“You're in love with him?”
“No.” She looked into her wine glass and frowned. “Maybe.”
“But?”
“You know what he is. You know that I can't be what he needs me to be to fulfill that part of him. So, all that leaves is right now. There can't be a future for us. Dominance is a part of who he is, and he's denying it.”
“He is, but it's for you.”
We both drank, Lane, keeping the rim of her glass against her lips as she thought about it. “How long before he begins to resent me for it?”
“We all bend, Lane.”
“I… can't.”
I wasn't so sure about that. I could see Lane's heart in her eyes, but then again, I also knew how stubborn she was. I had no idea how this would end, but right now, I was pretty sure Thomas made her happy. I had a feeling he would continue to make her happy if she let him. The keyword being let.
“If it makes you feel any better, he wasn't the only one to think I was you,” I said, grasping at straws in hopes to distract her from the pit of despair she was staring down into.
“Oh?” She gave a half-smile. “If anyone else tried to sneak in some anal, I need to know because it's all lies.”
I genuinely laughed. “No. A Mistress Kayla called your name. She's intense. I was saved by Mark, who found her interest in me very amusing.”
“Mistress Kayla?” Lane covered her mouth with her hands. “Fuck me. I forgot she was going to be here this week.” She drained her glass and slid it onto the marble, looking forlornly at the bottle sitting next to it. “I have to go back to work.”
“What? Why?”
“Our Kayla is very… particular.”
I looked down at my wine and the very formal clothes I was wearing. “Fine. I'll go with you, just let me change first.”
“You don't have to do that.”
I drained my glass as she had with an exaggerated smack of my lips. “I don't mind going with you, and I'd rather you didn't walk alone at this time of night. But, hey, if you're using this as an excuse to see Thomas, you know you don't have to hide that from me anymore.”
Lane chuckled. “This is not an excuse.”
“Then let me throw something on that isn't from your collection, and we can go.”
I changed quickly into some tight jeans and a cute shirt that wasn't one of my many T-shirts, and I headed back down to meet Lane, who looked put back together with her towering heels and pinned hair. We headed out and walked the blocks to the club, eventually slipping into the accommodation entrance. Jon, who was manning the desk, must have been watching something on a tablet because his head popped up as we startled him before Lane waved him back into a relaxed state. When we finally rushed into her office, she came to an abrupt halt, and I slammed into her back, sending her stumbling forward.
Peering over her shoulder, I noticed Thomas sitting behind her desk, typing away at her computer. If he was surprised to see us, it didn't reflect on his features. He simply grinned up at us with a look I couldn't decipher.
“I know why you're here. I took care of it.” He scowled playfully at the screen and back up at Lane. “I think.”
“If you've messed up my files, Tom.” The threat was an empty one if his grin was anything to go by.
“I just touched what was necessary, and I had to print out some forms because you locked your cabinet.”
“Let me see.” Lane sighed, shooing him from her chair. How no one knew these two went at it was beyond me. They bantered like an old married couple.
“The forms?” Thomas asked, rising obediently.
“Zara,” Lane pulled a set of keys from her desk and threw them at me. “Second drawer down, there's a file that says permission and disclaimers. Can you grab one sheet from each file, staple them together, and run them down to…” Lane looked to Thomas, they exchanged a glance, but her brow rose in challenge.
“Theme room six,” Thomas eventually told me.
“You can take the back way to avoid going through the club,” Lane added, eyes already on her screen as her fingers moved quickly over the keyboard.
I did as I was told and went on my way, closing the door discreetly behind me, deciding I would take my time on my way back from the room and give them a chance to talk.
Like most businesses, the club felt strange at night— different. There always seemed to be music playing around the building, but tonight, the walls rang with it. A deep thudding bass felt like a constant companion, the vibration of it enveloping me the closer I got to the club itself.
As suggested, I'd taken the long way around. It was a private, narrow, staff-only corridor. One of the walls separated the passage from the club, while the other had small slits at eye-level that gave glimpses into the private rooms. On my tour earlier, Lane had explained they were for the safety staff to make sure no one was abusing the solitary of a private room. It made sense, but seeing them there reminded me of that movie about snuff films in Hollywood.
I passed one of the monitors, distinguishable by the small pin he wore on his collar. I'd never seen him while I'd been working the desk and running errands, but his smile and nod of recognition said he knew who I was.
When I finally stepped into the corridor leading to the themed rooms, I was grateful to see the hallway was empty. I rushed toward the door adorned with the number six, and I knocked, realizing too late that I wasn't sure if that was protocol or not. Lane hadn't told me how to handle any of this because the plan was for me not to be working during club hours.
It was too late to take it back, though, so I tipped my chin up and waited.
When the door swung open, I wished I'd just slid the damn package under the door. Tall, broad-shou
ldered and handsome, Mark stared at me with a quirk of surprise on his lips. He didn't have a shirt on, and being unable to look away, I took in every rise and fall of his well-developed muscles, my eyes stopping on the bars that ran through his nipples
“You see something you'd like to play with?” he asked with a command that held every ounce of my attention. Leaning a forearm on the frame of the door, he let his eyes work up and down my body in a slow, sexual wave before he met my eyes and held me captive.
“I have the forms you requested.” I thrust the pages at him awkwardly and shuffled on my feet.
Reaching out, Mark pinched the corner of the papers and tipped them up to read while they were still in my grip.
“Perla, come here.”
There was a shuffling from inside the room that grew louder with every sweep. Before long, a very naked young woman on all fours came into my line of sight and pressed herself against his leg with a satisfied smile.
“Take the papers from Miss Beltran. I'm making an assumption you know where to sign?”
“Of course, Sir.” The young woman glanced up at me with warm honey brown eyes and smiled with endless patience before I finally remembered why I was there and handed her the small wad of papers. She began reading, her eyes moving across the sheets. While I watched her, I could feel Mark watching me.
“We keep running into one another. Three times in one day and we haven't even been trying.”
“First days always are spread thinly. I think I've been to every corner of the building twice already,” I rambled hopelessly.
“No complaints from me,” Mark purred, reaching into one of his pockets and handing the young woman a pen. “Have you ever been to a club like this before?”
“No. Until I saw that movie…” I trailed off to think of the name of it as Mark ran his hand over the top of Perla's hair. I was so caught up in the motion, and her reaction, I completely forgot what he'd asked me.