by L. DuBois
Master Khan shot a glance at Petal. “I didn’t give you two permission to stop.”
Petal, who had glossy brown hair, had already been spanked once, hard enough that there was a handprint on one butt cheek. She lowered her mouth back to Rosa’s pussy. Taking pity on Petal—who was with Master Khan as part of a punishment, and whose real name wasn’t even Petal—Rosa wrapped her legs around the other girl’s head and let out a fake moan.
Luscious, damn her, clearly knew what Rosa was doing, and tapped her nipple with a crop, hard enough to make Rosa jump. “Legs spread, slut.”
There was a pecking order in this harem, and Luscious was definitely at the top. Rosa had some vague memory that there was a word for the top woman in a harem, but couldn’t remember what it was.
Normally, Luscious didn’t abuse that power, but for an undisclosed infraction she was on orgasm restriction this weekend. It was making the normally easygoing, comfortable-in-her-submission Luscious irritable and short tempered, headed towards homicidal.
Master Khan started talking to the new woman, and Rosa tuned out.
She was thinking about Liam.
Again.
Always.
He had been the one constant in her life for so long. She was used to seeing him every day, even if they hadn’t exactly had an intimate relationship these past few years.
It had been weeks since she’d seen or spoken to him. She’d transferred him her half of the mortgage payment, but that had been the sum total of their interaction, and even that was nothing more than an automated notice from the bank.
She’d hoped he’d come after her. He hadn’t.
She got mad. How dare he not come for her? They’d been together for seventeen years. She deserved to have him pursue her. That feeling had lasted for nearly a week.
Then she’d changed from anger to self-disgust. Berated herself for playing games. She was better than that—she wasn’t some dumbass twenty-something who manipulated people to try to get what she wanted. She was old enough that she should have gone back and explained her feelings.
But she was a coward. An awful, perverse coward.
She’d loved him for so long, was so tied to him, that she didn’t think her heart would survive having him look at her with disgust a second time. She would do anything to avoid that.
If she stayed away she could pretend, both to herself and to the friends she’d been crashing with in between hotel stays, that the breakup was just the logical conclusion of a relationship that had been doomed for years.
“Luscious, get the boy out of the way.”
That was enough to make Rosa look up. Petal was still half-heartedly licking her clit, but since she’d left Liam it had taken some intense direct stimulation to make her come—usually a wand or similar vibrating toy.
Luscious undid Hachiro’s restraints and helped him down. The connected cock rings still bound his cock, and he moved gingerly to a seat.
“Stand on the table, Saffron,” Master Khan told the Cleopatra-looking brunette. “So everyone can see what I’m about to do.”
Rosa winced. Master Khan was normally affable, but he was more intense this weekend than he had been at any time in the past few weeks. It must have had something to do with why Luscious was being punished—either that or not getting to make Luscious come was making Master Khan as crabby as his submissive.
Above and behind where Rosa sat, people were shifting around to get a better view. A few submissives came down to check out what the sign around Saffron’s neck said, or to read what was written on her back. Master Khan started to circle her, and Rosa forced herself to stop thinking about Liam and pay attention. If he was going to put on a show, maybe that would be enough to arouse her and she’d be able to come. She peered at the sign, and realized Saffron and her partner had the letter “D.”
“It’s too bad your ass is off limits,” Master Khan looked at each inch of Saffron’s skin with a possessive assurance that reeked of control and self-assurance.
If Liam had looked at her like that she would have—
No. She wasn’t thinking about him.
Master Khan was still speaking to Saffron. “Because you’re always so elegant when spanked, none of that twitching and squealing.” Master Khan looked pointedly at Petal when he said that. Of course she couldn’t see it. “But I can see that your old Master has already punished you most thoroughly. Did you enjoy it?”
“I welcomed my Master’s punishment, Sir.”
Rosa would have welcomed a punishment from Liam. Anything but what he’d done.
“Ahh, the answer of a complex woman. Maybe the physical pain was too much by itself, but you were in pain because your Master was punishing you. That was the pleasure. That was the arousal.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Then I wonder, will you enjoy it when I punish you?” Master Khan cropped her vulva. The suddenness of it was shocking. Saffron moaned in pain and Rosa ran her tongue over her teeth. That was scary and sexy at the same time. Her favorite combination.
Crack.
Crack.
Saffron took a half step in retreat, nearly falling off the table.
“Cleo.” A male voice called out the name from behind Rosa and Saffron froze. Wait, was her name Saffron or Cleo?
Saffron/Cleo froze, then slowly raised her head to look at the speaker. There was trepidation in her gaze, and based on the sign around her neck, Rosa was sure it was Saffron/Cleo’s Master who had spoken.
Maybe the other woman had two names because like her, she had two identities—the submissive and the woman she had to be outside of here.
Did Saffron/Cleo’s Dom love both aspects of the other woman?
“Cleo.” He repeated her name and the room fell silent. “Spread your legs.”
Saffron/Cleo whimpered, her eyes widening a bit. Then she spread her legs, exposing her most vulnerable flesh to Master Khan and his crop.
The crop whistled through the air, a vertical strike that came up between her legs. The wet crack of the crop made Rosa’s pussy clench.
“Just one more, my flower. How about one on this sweet clit?”
“No, Sir, please…” The words were muffled by the muzzle-like mask she wore, but Rosa heard.
“Let’s ask your Master.” Khan turned. “Master Hadrian, I’d like to crop her clit.”
Rosa’s mouth went dry.
“Cleo,” the unseen master said. “Crouch. On your toes, legs spread.”
“Luscious, support her back.” Master Khan ordered.
Once they were positioned, Saffron/Cleo was squatting, knees spread, balanced on her toes, like a catcher behind home plate. Luscious knelt on the table behind her, supporting her back.
Crack.
The tip of the crop struck the other woman’s mercilessly exposed clit. Rosa sucked in air. She was right there, so close to coming. She braced her elbows and arched up into Petal’s mouth. The other woman pulled back. Rosa hissed out a breath of frustration.
“Don’t let her close her legs,” Master Khan told Hachiro. He leapt into action, hands on Saffron/Cleo’s knees. He forced her legs open, letting everyone see her most intimate flesh.
When Saffron/Cleo looked up, her face was strangely relaxed, her gaze soft. “Thank you, Master Khan.”
Jealousy ripped through Rosa. It was a dark, destructive emotion. She hated Saffron/Cleo. She didn’t know her, had never even seen her before. Oh, but she hated her.
Because someone cared enough to punish her.
Because she was the center of a scene, people looking at her, touching her, accepting her submission and making her live up to it.
Because she wasn’t part of the scenery.
Rosa closed her eyes and leaned her head back, hoping it would look like she was enjoying what was by far the worst oral sex she’d ever had, and that no one would notice the tears in her eyes.
Maybe it was time to give up being a submissive. If she did that, she could go back to Liam. He might no
t love her, but she still loved him. Maybe having someone to love—even if it was one-sided—was better than being alone. Some part of her knew that was wrong, but, again, she was a coward.
The party went on around her, voices filtering through the cottony, gray depression that pressed down on her.
At some point Petal pulled away, and Rosa rolled to the side, tucking herself into a fetal position and pressing herself into the padded corner of the seating area.
Master Khan must have realized she needed a moment. Or maybe he just didn’t care.
Hands stroked her naked back, then her hair. “Honey, are you okay?” Luscious asked.
“I miss him.” The words were high and thin, forced out through the lump in her throat.
She’d cried since she left Liam—silent tears that were easily wiped away with the back of her hand. She needed to really cry. To sob and scream. Until she did that, there was nowhere for all these feelings to go. She held them inside, letting them claw at her, until she was sure that if a surgeon opened her up, she’d be a bloody mess of shredded flesh and broken bones.
“Come,” Master Khan ordered. Luscious pulled on her arm.
Moving mechanically, Rosa climbed to her feet. They slid a blindfold over her eyes, but she didn’t care. It didn’t matter where they were going. Maybe they’d do the same thing they’d done a few weekends ago—tie her up to one of the posts in the courtyard and treat her like a part of the decor. It had been mildly arousing at first, while people patted and pinched her naked skin as they walked by. Then everyone had started their own scenes and she was forgotten. Ignored. Not worthy of anything more.
Grief or sadness. He wasn’t sure which of those feelings was the correct label for the knot of emotion in his stomach.
He’d tried to ignore the message from Luscious, but once he’d made the mistake of listening to the voicemail he hadn’t been able to get it out of his head. He’d replayed the message, both in actuality and mentally, for the duration of the flight.
She needs you. I know something happened. But she needs you.
The message had been left on his cell phone. His office would never have given out that number. Did that mean Rosalicia had asked Luscious to call?
And if Luscious was calling, that did mean Rosalicia, his ’Licia, had kept going to the club.
She was subbing for Master Khan. That was the only possible explanation for Luscious calling him.
Did Luscious and Master Khan know that she’d left him? They must not. They must think that she still wanted to be around him. They didn’t understand how he’d failed her.
He’d thought that by now, after weeks without her, the hole inside would have shrunk.
It hadn’t. If anything, he felt worse.
He hadn’t taken care of her.
He hadn’t prioritized her.
He was a coward.
He’d left her when he should have stayed.
She left you too, a petty voice inside said.
The only thing that had faded was his fear of facing her. That same petty voice assured him that if he saw her now there would be no bruises.
That he wouldn’t have to face what he was, or what he’d done.
She needs you.
Those three words were all that really mattered. Or he could debate it, but he knew that the minute his flight landed, he’d be headed to Las Palmas. He’d raced from the taxi into his building and paused in the condo only long enough to pee and grab his car keys. Four hours after his plane had landed, Liam was tired and irritated with the tourists clogging up Highway One, but he’d made it, the gates of Las Palmas swinging open for his car.
He stopped Gabriela, Master Leo’s sub, in the foyer. “Excuse me, have you seen Master Khan?”
Gabriela reached out, as if she were going to pat his shoulder, but stopped short, as if her instinct to comfort him was checked by her submissive training. “He was holding court in the dining room.”
“Thank you.”
He started to head that way, then remembered he was still in his work clothes, keys, wallet, and phone in his pockets. He should go to his locker and unload, maybe change.
He froze at the end of the foyer. If he went straight, he’d go to the dining room. If he went left, he’d reach the locker room.
It was a question of why he was here. Was he here to be a Dom? Someone’s Dom, even if he wasn’t hers? Or was he just here to check on someone who had once loved him, who had been a part of his life for so long, that it was his job, by right of familiarity, to investigate what might be wrong with her based on a somewhat cryptic message.
He took two steps towards his locker. That darkness within him that had risen the last time he was here was pushing for him to strip away the trapping of the outside world and embrace who he was here at Las Palmas. To be a Master. Her Master.
He wouldn’t let that darkness take control.
He stopped, turned on his heel, and headed for the dining room.
Eight
Luscious pressed a finger to her eyelid. Master Khan frowned at her. She frowned back, not caring if that earned her a punishment. It wasn’t like her ass could hurt much more than it did now. Damned cane. Plus if he spanked her again, maybe she’d have a pain-based orgasm. That wasn’t normal for her, but right now she was so fucking frustrated she’d try anything.
“Is your eye all right, my lovely one?”
“I have an eye twitch.”
Master Khan raised one brow. “Lack of orgasms gives you an eye twitch?”
“Yes.”
He chuckled, keeping it quiet, making it a low and intimate thing. “Your punishment will be over soon. A week was unrealistic, for a multitude of reasons.”
Luscious leaned in, begging for a kiss, but froze. “Shit.”
Master Khan turned to follow her gaze, looking to the entrance of the dining room.
He stared for a moment, then slowly swiveled his head to face her. Luscious pasted a big smile on her face.
“You’re in so much trouble,” he growled.
Just to be on the safe side, she slid off the bench seat onto her knees before him, bowing her head and spreading her knees.
“Oh my sweet, it’s much too late for that. You will spend the rest of the night with my cock in your mouth, making me come again and again.” He leaned down, kissed her temple even as he cruelly twisted one nipple. She whimpered, spreading her knees a little wider.
“Stay like that,” her Master ordered. Then he rose from the bench and was gone, walking away to meet with Master Liam, who had just walked in.
Luscious didn’t dare move her head, but she slid her gaze to the side, where Rosa was curled in a pathetic little ball. Luscious had questioned Petal, wondering if she’d done or said something to upset Rosa, but Petal insisted—even after some intense nipple pinching—that she hadn’t.
Luscious had convinced her Master to just give the other woman space. The blindfold Master Khan had placed on her was as much to give her privacy as it was to offer her some small restriction, which submissives often found comforting.
Rosa needed her master, and he’d come. Despite whatever message Master Khan had left for him.
Maybe there was hope. Maybe love would win the day.
The minutes passed, and Luscious started cursing quietly. It was entirely possible that her lovely husband had convinced the other man to go home and was, even now, raiding the toy chest for something to punish her with. All that work, and days of suffering with nothing to show for it.
The urge to look up, to check what was going on, was almost overwhelming. She’d been a submissive a long time, a wife almost as long. Those were very different learning experiences, but one thing she’d mastered, thanks to both those relationships, was patience.
And her patience paid off.
A wonderfully familiar hand slid through her hair, strong fingers cupping the back of her skull. He made a fist and pulled her head back, so she was looking up at him.
“You w
retched thing.” Khan’s words were hard, but he was smiling wryly.
Her reply was a tentative grin.
He plopped down onto the bench, then crooked a finger at her. “Come. Sit with me. Watch your machinations come to fruition.”
She pressed her lips together as hard as she could, to hold back the smile. Based on the way he pinched her butt as she curled up beside her Master, she wasn’t totally successful in hiding her satisfaction.
The smile did melt away when she got her first good look at Liam. He’d gained weight, not much, but enough to be noticeable by the way his slim-fit shirt was snug if not tight. He had bags under his eyes, visible even behind his glasses, and his hair was messy. Most surprising of all though was his beard. He’d grown out a full, dark beard since he’d last been here. A black piece of fabric dangled from one hand, a bundle of Velcro straps from the other.
It was his expression that broke her heart.
Luscious leaned into her Master, until she was practically on his lap. “Do you see it? In his eyes?”
“Perhaps I should worry that you’re staring at another man’s eyes.”
“He loves her.”
“Perhaps.”
“He does. And she loves him.”
Master Khan sighed and kissed her head. “You can neither save nor fix everyone, though I know you’d prefer if you could.”
“If he would just be her Master…”
“And she must learn to trust him enough to submit.”
“She doesn’t trust him?” Luscious asked.
“No, she’s holding back. I recognize it, from when you first wore my collar.”
Their whispered conversation had continued while Master Liam stood on the steps leading down into their seating area, staring at his submissive with sadness and regret twisting his features.
She presented a rather sad picture—curled up, naked and alone, the blindfold letting her hide from the world, almost like a child who covers their eyes and thinks that means no one can see them.
Master Liam took the last step down into the seating area and crouched to place the handful of straps on the table. He examined the black fabric, turning it in his hands.
